Relay for Life - Benbrook, TX

Cancer continues to affect millions of people around the globe.

There's the teenager who found out this past Christmas Day that she has leukemia, having been admitted to the hospital the night before, the 47-year-old married mother of two who was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer, though she never smoked, in August, who passed away last month, the grandmother who just had breast cancer surgery, the former trainer who committed suicide after battling leukemia, and her girlfriend who now struggles with the same illness.

Then there is J.B., a retired worker, who was recently diagnosed with colon cancer.

Every year the American Cancer Society holds Relay for Life fundraisers all across the country with all proceeds going toward research and prevention of the disease. The Survivor Lap, Fight Back and Luminaria Ceremonies are part of the program.

This year's annual Benbrook, Texas event will take place April 23rd and 24th at Dutch Branch Park. Festivities and fundraising start at 6 p.m. that Friday and end the next morning at 6 a.m.

So far the three top fundraising teams are from Baylor All Saints Medical Center and the City of Benbrook.

To register, go to http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?pg=entry&fr_id=24003 online.

In related event news, the City of Mansfield, TX Relay for Life will also be held on the 23rd from 6 p.m.-6 a.m. at 303 N. Walnut Creek Drive. With 17 teams as of Feb. 1, the fundraiser will be featured at Rose Park.

For more information, email Erika.Scrimpshire@cancer.org.

Relay for Life Grapevine, also in Texas, kicks off April 30 at 7 p.m. and will end the next day at 7 a.m. The address is 301 Pony Parkway at Grapevine Middle School with the theme of Team-Up Cure.

To sign up, access http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR?sid=33294&type=fr_informational&pg=informational&fr_id=24083.

Participants and non-participants purchase luminarias ahead of time in memory of people such as Barbara Vogel, artist and sculptor, who passed away last March at her home in Key West, FL at the age of 67 from lung cancer.

Born in New Rochelle, NY on March 26, 1941, Vogel's artistic talent was evident and encouraged early in her life, according to LC Magazine.

"In 1982 she moved to Key West, where she made her studio in an old warehouse with other artists," the article states. "A peace activist and world traveler, Vogel was also a follower of Vietnamese Buddhism."

Luminarias are lit up at the annual luminaria ceremonies that are held within the relays later on in the night. You can purchase one in honor or in memory of someone at https://secure3.convio.net/tacs/site/Ecommerce?JServSessionIdr004=sk3hcxne91.app314a&PROXY_ID=24070&PROXY_TYPE=21&FR_ID=24070&VIEW_PRODUCT=true&product_id=4201&store_id=13364 or by going to your local American Cancer Society office.