Paradise, Saving lives, one step at a time
Saving lives, one step at a time
The sunny day was a promising symbol of hope Saturday for those taking part in the fourth annual Relay for Life Paradise fundraiser.c Throughout the day about 700 people took part in the 24-hour relay at Paradise High School's Om Wraith Field to raised funds for cancer research. By the end of the relay Sunday about $120,000 was raised said John Hantelman, himself a prostate cancer survivor. Hantelman co-chaired the event along with his wife Ruth, who is a breast cancer survivor.
The money stays local and helps lodge patients who are traveling long distances, provides prosthesis, wigs and bras, pays for round trip rides to doctor's offices for appointments as well as provides funds for the Young Cancer Survivor Scholarships to children's camps. Cancer strikes about 1 in 3 people and curing the disease is easier said than done. "Cancer is a group of diseases and there are different attributes to each," Hantelman said. "In each form the cell is affected a little differently." Still, he said by 2015 the goal is to cut the cancer death rate in half. "We want to help more survivors celebrate more birthdays," he said. Mike Kingery wasn't sure how many birthdays his son Tyler would get to celebrate when the youngster was diagnosed with leukemia six years ago. It's difficult when you find out your kid has been diagnosed with a terminal disease," he said. "We didn't know that was going to be it so we just wanted to give him the best life we could." Click here to read the full story...
