Moses Lake Relay for Life Friday, Saturday

MOSES LAKE - Participants in Moses Lake's Relay for Life will walk all night to raise money for cancer research Friday and Saturday.

The event starts at 6 p.m. Friday at the Grant County Fairgrounds, 3953 Airway Dr. NE.

The relay is a national fundraiser for the American Cancer Society; relays are held throughout the country. The proceeds are donated to the cancer society for research into cancer treatment and prevention.

The Moses Lake relay has set a fundraising goal of $150,000, co-chair Josie Ritter said.

She said the money raised through the relay matters, and she cited a personal example. Her daughter was diagnosed with a "very aggressive" form of leukemia two weeks before her 10th birthday, she said, and the only treatment was a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible.

Even with the transplant the doctors gave her daughter a 30 percent chance of survival, Ritter said. Her daughter did survive, is now 16 and has remained cancer-free. But in those six years doctors have developed alternative methods of treatment for that form of cancer, and the part of the research funding was raised through the relay, she said.

Tom Willner, singer and cancer survivor from Atlanta who is participating in his sixth Moses Lake relay, will perform from 5 to 6 p.m., Ritter said. The opening ceremonies follow, and will include some new awards, the volunteer of the year and the "spirit of the relay" award. Samaritan Healthcare and Moses Lake Clinic will receive awards recognizing their participation in all 25 relays.

Cancer survivors always lead the first lap. "Then we walk," Ritter said, all through Friday evening and Friday night, and on into Saturday morning until the final lap at 10 a.m.

The relay was moved to the Grant County Fairgrounds because "we outgrew the high school," Ritter said, and Lions Field didn't fit. Participants will walk around the midway, the central sidewalks between the food and exhibit booths. There will be one-third and one-fourth mile markers so people can keep track of their miles, she said.

Because the temperature is expected to be in the mid-90s on Friday evening, participants are encouraged to bring plenty of drinking water, she said.

Relay participants don't just walk around the midway - the Mr. Relay contest returns, Ritter said, and there's a doughnut-eating contest, a scavenger hunt, a dunk tank, a bouncy house and games for kids, campsite decorating contest, other contests and lots of theme laps.

Donations for Relay for Life will be accepted through Aug. 31, Ritter said. People can donate on the website, relayforlife.org/moseslakewa, or at the relay Friday.

Relay participants don't have to be on a team, Ritter said; anyone can come down to the fairgrounds and walk. "'Celebrate, remember and fight back' with us," Ritter said, citing the relay motto. "It's what embodies relay."