By Angela Hill

Keeping hope for the future

Jun 4, 2011 | 12:12 AM

Temperatures hovering around zero didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of Relay for Life participants in Prince Albert.

“I think relay was a fantastic event. Albeit, it was a little bit cool and a little bit rainy, but we had a fantastic time,” said Lyle Karasiuk, event chair of the relay.

There were 63 teams involved in the annual Canadian Cancer Society fundraiser and they made it success, raising $205,000 for cancer research and support projects, he said.

“Fundraising was a phenomenal success.”

The event couldn’t have happened without the volunteers, Karasiuk said, of which there was a small army.

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From the entertainers to the people giving foot massages to participants, about 250 volunteers helped pull off relay, said Laurie Dent, unit manager of the Canadian Cancer Society in Prince Albert.

“It’s absolutely wonderful to have that many people want to come and volunteer for the event. That just shows the stature of the event in the community.”

As always, it proved to be an emotional event, with cheers and tears of joy during the survivor walk and during the luminary ceremony, tears in remembrance of those who died.

Malcolm Jenkins, the honourary chair, kicked off the event.

He spoke about the three pillars of the society – Celebrate, Remember and Fight Back.

There is a lot to celebrate with cancer survival rates higher than ever before, Jenkins said.

He also talked about how as a society we have been able to prevent disease like diphtheria and have eradicated small pox and said he hoped that one day cancer would just be a bad memory.

To talk about fighting back, Jenkins talked about his soccer hero, Éric Abidal, who ten weeks after being operated on for cancer, he was able to accept the European Champions Cup with his teammates.

Finally, Jenkins spoke about his late wife Melba, who was the honouary chair three years ago and walked the survivors lap for seven years before losing her battle with cancer last year.

He asked participants that during their third lap, they would say, ‘this one is for Melba.’”

For more photos from the event: Relay for Life draws hundreds

ahill@panow.com