ASHLAND – If you’ve noticed the purple ribbons running up and down Main Street, Julie Altman will feel like she has accomplished her goal.
Altman, along with her 28-year-old daughter, Ashley, and friends Nancy Wasen and Lana Thompson, placed the ribbons on trees in downtown Ashland on Memorial Day to help raise awareness of the Annual Relay for Life event, which takes place this Saturday. Accompanying the ribbons is a card which reads “Kiss Cancer Goodbye.”
“So many people just don’t know what it is,” Julie Altman said of Relay for Life. “They think it’s a race. But really it’s a community event. It’s more like a festival.”
The purple ribbons are part of the American Cancer Society’s Paint the Town Purple campaign, which is designed to help bring more attention to the annual event which raises money for the ACS.
“(Altman) asked me last year to get involved with Painting the Town Purple and it went so well that we decided to do it again this year,” Wasen said. “We make a great team and all the merchants we talked to were so supportive.”
“We want to try and encourage more people to join a team and to raise awareness that we’re here and what we are doing this for,” Altman said.
Altman and Wasen, who have been friends for more than four decades, are part of an 11-person team, led by Thompson, named “Keep Calm and Kick Cancer’s Butt.”
Altman, a lifelong Ashland resident, is a 10-year survivor of breast cancer. Altman said she had annual mammograms, but in one year between checks she developed three tumors. She was diagnosed in August 2006, underwent a mastectomy in September 2006, and started a cutting-edge chemotherapy treatment in October 2006. Now, almost a decade later, she remains cancer-free and only has to go in for check-ups once a year, along with her mammograms.
“My oncologist said afterwards that the type of drug they gave me was cutting edge. It had only been out for about a year when I was diagnosed, and without that drug, things might have turned out differently,” Altman said.
That’s why Altman is passionate about Relay for Life and raising money for more cancer research.
“People don’t realize that people are living longer, and there is hope for people. It’s not a death sentence all the time,” Altman said. “There are a lot of things that it used to be, when they told you, you were gone, but it’s not that way anymore. They’re making advances all the time and that’s what we have to keep raising money for. We have to keep those advances coming.”
Wasen is a five-year cancer survivor. She said that Altman was a strong support for her during her battle with cancer.
“No one ever thinks they will hear the words ‘You have cancer’ but stats show that one out of every 2 men and one out of every 3 women will have some sort of cancer in their lifetime. Relay for Life puts a face to cancer and builds teams help raise money to fight back,” Wasen said. “Our team is ‘Keep Calm and Kick Cancer’s Butt’ and I hope in my lifetime to see more cancers being beaten. Seems like we are on the way to it.”
Altman said the people and businesses of Ashland have been very generous in donating money and items to Relay for Life. “It’s really gratifying to know you live in a town that still does that kind of stuff.”
Her family, which also includes her husband of 28 years, Mike, and son, Ian, is very involved with Relay for Life. Altman said her family’s support and her positive attitude helped her get through her personal cancer battle.
Lana Thompson, team leader, lost her mother to lung cancer 10 years ago, while Lana was just a senior in high school.
The 17th Annual Relay for Life will be Saturday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. at the Ashland County Fairgrounds. The theme of this year’s event is “Around the World.” Twelve teams with more than 160 participants will walk around the track at the fairgrounds to raise funds for the American Cancer Socitety.
A survivors ceremony kicks off the annual event, followed by a survivors lap as those who have beat cancer make their way around the track. A survivors dinner will take place in Mozelle Hall after the lap.
Rock musician Jeff Ritz will perform from 7 to 9 p.m. A luminary ceremony at around 9 p.m. will honor those who have lost the battle with cancer and those who are still fighting.
Other activities taking place at the fairgrounds as part of Relay for Life include a corn hole tournament, a poker run, dessert auction, a wiffleball tournament, a poker run and a touch-a-truck.
