Getting ready to fight cancer

Participants in the 2012 Allegan County Lakeshore Relay for Life Kick Off Party put luminaries on their tables Wednesday, Feb. 29, at Fenn Valley Winery and Vineyards, 6130 122nd Ave.

 Pink ribbons for breast cancer awareness. Purple ribbons for pancreatic cancer. Teal for ovarian cancer. Black for melanoma.

Volunteers for Relay for Life will bring the rainbow of colors together June 9-10 in Fennville to help bring awareness to cancer research and raise money to find a cure.

Organizers of the event met Wednesday night, Feb. 29, at Fenn Valley Winery and Vineyards, 6130 122nd Ave., to kick off the event.

“There are so many people aware of cancer, but they’re not aware of how many types there are,” said Relay for Life Chairwoman Hedy Morse.

Alan Kort talks Wednesday about being diagnosed with cancer.

Organizers are aiming for 25 teams to spend 24 hours at the Fennville High School track in June to raise $76,000 to fight cancer.

Last year, the event brought in about $73,382.

In its first year in 2009, the event raised $53,600.

“Every year, we think we can’t get anymore, but we do,” Morse said. “We work a little harder.”

Cancer survivor Alan Kort told volunteers Feb. 29 that he will be celebrating during the walk his first year since being diagnosed and treated for cancer.

He discovered a lump on his leg while bicycling last July and had it examined on a Monday. Within days, he was in treatment for cancer.

“This was my struggle. Life ebbs and flows,” he said. “Cancer is a strange thing, seemingly simple, but it is so complex in the confines of the human psyche.”

Teams will be raising funds throughout the spring before the June event.

At 6 p.m. March 10, the Seeds of Hope team has a bowling fundraiser set at Lakeview Lanes, 229 Center St. in Douglas.

At 7 p.m. April 28, Team Forever Friends is holding its second Bras for a Cause auction at the Saugatuck Brewing Company, 2948 Blue Star Highway. People bid on handmade bras modeled by men. The first event last year brought in almost $1,500.

For more information on June’s Relay for Life, visit relayforlife.org/allegancountylakeshoremi.

For more pictures from the kick-off party, visit: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/photo/x186778116/Relay-for-Life-Getting-Ready

For a video, visit: http://www.hollandsentinel.com/videos