Relay For Life Changes Lives One Step at a Time

On July 13, Adam Kielbasa returned to his alma mater, Brother Rice, nine years after graduating. The AstroTurf track he and his friends walked on wasn’t there when he graduated, but then, a lot has changed in the years since.

In February 2011, Adam was diagnosed with epithelioid sarcoma, something that affects only 1 in 4 million people.

“I kind of won the lottery,” he says.

Because of how rare the cancer is, there aren’t a lot of treatments, but Adam is trying every option. He has had seven surgeries, six months of chemotherapy, six weeks of radiation and three clinical trials in the nearly 2.5 years since his diagnosis. Adam, like so many of his team members around him at his first Relay For Life, is fighting back with all his might and absolutely refuses to give up.

Adam’s Army was the largest team at Relay For Life of Evergreen Park, Mt. Greenwood and Beverly this weekend, with 32 members registered and even more just dropping by to say hello. As of July 17, his team also raised the most money out of any team at Relay: $5,737.

Their contributions and the contributions of many others made this year’s Relay a success, outdoing last year’s Relay by more than $8,000 and raising a total of more than $28,000 to date, according to event chair Kelly Duffy. Those interested are able to contribute until August 31 by going to the Relay For Life website.

Duffy and her husband Steve were first-time co-event chairs this year, and she says she’s heard positive feedback from several people who attended the event.

“My husband and I talked a lot about how the relay went and we both agree that it went better than we could ever expect!” Duffy says. “The survivors were very pleased.”

Brenda Fitcher, another first-time Relayer and survivor of colon cancer since January 2011, says she was glad to be at Relay surrounded by her friends and family.

“Relay For Life 2013, I’m having a ball,” she said while showing off her survivor medal, donated by Medals4Mettle.

Jen Townsend, a member of Procrastinators: The Next Generation, says she was excited to see how Relay has grown this year compared to last.

“I hope it grows more because it’s a lot more fun when it’s bigger,” Townsend says. “It’s been dwindling down, and fewer and fewer people have been coming out as the years have gone by, and now it’s bigger again this year so I hope it’s kind of making a return.”

No matter how many people come out to Relay, though, those who participate will keep fighting back against cancer. Adam and his Army haven’t given up hope, and Relay has shown him how much people care, even people he doesn’t know well.

“There's so many people that come out and support, even people that barely know you,” he says. “They want to support you, whether you know them well or not. They obviously made some kind of impact on your life. That’s amazing because I don’t think I’ve made a big impact on their lives so it’s really fun to see that.”