Survivors are guests of honor

By Kate Day Sager
Olean Times Herald

OLEAN - As a cancer survivor Becky Threadgill can expect to feel special during Friday’s American Cancer Society Relay for Life at the Olean Middle School track on Wayne Street.

Mrs. Threadgill and other cancer survivors who participate in the Survivors Walk at the Relay for Life can also expect to be the guests of honor when the event is held from 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday.

The relay is the first one to be held in over 10 years in the Olean area. Teams are still welcome to sign up, and individuals can join teams that have room the day of the relay. Team members will be asked to donate $10 to participate and will receive T-shirts while supplies last. The public is also welcome to come out and observe the event which has the motto “Celebrate. Remember. Fight Back!”

The annual nationwide fundraiser raises money for the American Cancer Society through pledges and activities held at the relays. Locally, the funds will be used to help support American Cancer Society programs and cancer research at Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo. The funds also will be used for services and research in the region, which encompasses seven counties of Western New York.

Mrs. Threadgill’s daughter, Susan, is publicity manager for the event and said other cancer survivors and their families are welcome to join the activity right up to the time of the walk.

“They are our guests of honor and they, along with their family and caregivers, are invited to take part in our opening ceremonies, the survivor lap and a small reception immediately following,” Susan Threadgill said. Friends and family members of those who have died from the disease are also encouraged to attend. Luminarias will be sold for $5 each and will be set up to honor remember those lost to the disease and those who are still fighting it.

“At 9:30 p.m. we’ll have the lighting ceremony of the luminarias, I’ll sing and we’ll have bagpipe players,” Susan Threadgill said. “Then we’ll have three or four speakers.”

There will also be raffles, games, music, food at the concession stand and a chicken barbecue.

Susan Threadgill said she became involved with the event when she learned that her aunt was on  a relay team. She said another reason she became involved with the relay is because her mother is a cancer survivor.

Becky Threadgill, a resident of Allegany, said she found out she had breast cancer in 2006 and had a mastectomy. Fortunately, the procedure thwarted the disease before it could spread and she was spared from undergoing chemotherapy. She said area residents may recognize her from the 26 years that she worked at the local Kmart store. She currently works at Fashion Bug in Bradford, Pa.

“Olean General was great with the mammogram and biopsy,” Becky Threadgill said. “I never had any problems getting information. And then last year, I had a scare again and had to have an ultrasound and a CAT scan. This year I had a clean report” from tests. She said breast cancer is a threat to her family as her mother died of the disease at the age of 49.

Becky Threadgill also mentioned that she had participated in a Relay for Life event years ago in Corning.

“That was a 20-mile hike but I think they (later) realized they had to cut them down a little,” Becky  Threadgill said of the relays.

A friend of the Susan Threadgill’s, Lindsay Montague of Allegany, said she had walked in the Relay for Life held June 5 in Ellicottville. She did it in honor of her late mother, Barbara Montague, who died of cancer in 2005.

“She battled it (cancer) on and off for about eight years,” Ms. Montague said.

“Some people didn’t know she had it because she was such a bright spirit.”

Ms. Montague said she believes if there are more relays in the area there will be additional support to cancer survivors and their families.

“One of my therapeutic ways of dealing with (her mother’s death) is going and seeing the numbers of people who have had cancer,” she said. “Just seeing the community there, and not feeling like you’re alone, helps.”