PHOTO BY SPENSER HASAK
From left, Marianne Conlon Duncan, Kay Rowe, the co-chair of Relay for Life, and Diane Conlon, co-chair of Relay for Life at their fundraiser for Team Hope.
BY GAYLA CAWLEY
LYNN — Cancer will be the common denominator for the participants in the 14th annual Relay for Life.
The charity event will take place on Saturday, June 11 from 4 to 10 p.m. at Red Rock Park on Lynn Beach.
City Clerk Mary Audley, Assistant City Clerk Janet Rowe and a group of residents launched the event in 2003 at the former Manning Bowl, said Kay Rowe, a relay organizer.
After the football stadium was demolished, the relay moved to Breed Middle School and eventually to the park.
Rowe said the benefit has raised more than $1 million for the American Cancer Society. Squads have come from City Hall, the Lynn Housing Authority & Neighborhood Development and Lynn Police, as well as family teams.
Diane Conlon, another organizer, walks with “Team Hope,” one of the bigger groups with more than 100 members. Her daughter, Michelle Conlon, started the team six years ago after she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. She died from the disease less than a year later at 38.
“There aren’t many families who have not had some contact with cancer,” said Conlon.
Her team usually raises more than $10,000, she said.
Rowe said her grandfather, Bruce Coughlin, died from lung cancer three weeks after being diagnosed, shocking her family. They do the relay annually in honor of him.
“It was just a really nice way to remember him and honor him,” she said. “Every year, we come together.”
Later, her aunt, Helen Mahoney, succumbed to breast cancer, after the disease spread to her brain. Now, the family combines the event for both of them. The team usually raises about $2,000 for cancer research.
“I would say it’s just a wonderful way to remember someone that you lost from cancer,” she said.
One of the defining parts of the contest is the “Survivor Ceremony,” where lost friends and family are celebrated with a “survivor lap.” Another big event is the “Luminaria Ceremony,” where people purchase bags and decorate them in honor of people who have been cancer victims. The bags line the track at Red Rock Park and are lit at 9 p.m., while everyone participates in the Luminary Lap.
“It’s very special and sometimes quite emotional,” Rowe said. “It really is a beautiful sight to walk along the water’s edge with the only light coming from the luminary bags all decorated for the ones we are all there to honor.”
The relay is not all sadness. There’s face painting, food and raffles, a scavenger hunt and music by DJ Bobby Conlon.
Gayla Cawley can be reached at gcawley@itemlive.com. Follow her on Twitter @GaylaCawley.