MD Dorchester Relay for Life Rally Inspires Hope

CAMBRIDGE--Messages of survival and hope enthused attendees Monday evening as Dorchester County Relay for Life (DCRFL) held its 2010 Kick Off Rally at St. Paul's United Methodist Church in Cambridge, Maryland. The crowd was also encouraged upon hearing that some goals were coming close to being met.

Each year, teams raise money for cancer research and awareness. For 2010, DCRFL is targeting to get fifty teams and currently has forty-two, comprised of over 470 participants. Fifteen new teams were also a goal and eleven have registered.

There is also a drive to have 125 survivors registered and currently there are fifty who registered online at http://www.relayforlife.org/Dorchestermd where there is information about Relay For Life. Visitors to the site can also register to create a team or donate.

The rally included remarks by Cambridge Mayor Victoria Jackson-Stanley, a video, and a parade by the teams featuring various nations. However, a highlight of the evening came from three survivors who attend the Church of the Anointed One Ministries in Cambridge. Their testimonies underscored DCRFL's theme for its fourteenth year, "Festival of Hope."

Alfred Slacum said he was diagnosed with prostate cancer three years ago. Not wanting chemotherapy treatments, he received a prostate seed implant at the Richard A. Henson Cancer Institute of Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. He said with God as his strength and the seed implant that he has been healed by the grace of God for three years.

"I had church members praying for me. I knew that I couldn't do it by myself. I give God all the glory because God is the one keeping me here," he said.

Prior to his bout with cancer he said he had survived two heart attacks. "So I give all the credit to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ," he said.

He continued, "We have to help one another, we have to love one another. We all bleed the same blood. So we are here together--we're going to beat it."

Evelynn Allen said she had cancer of the stomach and while receiving treatments at Shore Regional Cancer Center in Easton she noticed a sign which inspired her that read, "Survival is our's." She said despite being very ill during that time, God had blessed her.

"I give all my love and all my hope to Jesus. I thank God for everything He did for me," she said.

Phyllis Coleman, a member of the DCRFL planning committee read a statement from a third survivor who could not attend the rally because of work. In it, Ester Nichols stated after being diagnosed with breast cancer in December 2007, she was devastated and felt like her life was over. However she said she was blessed with fellow workers who refused to let her go through it alone. With their help and that of God's, she is now going through her third year of survivorship.

The testimonies of the survivors gave an added boost to the statement made by Mayor Jackson-Stanley at the start of the rally who said, "Let's raise some money and fight this thing."

Information of DCRFL can also be found on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/).

See more pictures from the 2010 Dorchester County MD Kick Off Rally for Relay for Life at http://www.associatedcontent.com/slideshow/44625/pictures_from_the_2010_dorchester_county.html .