Despite a lower turnout from community members and less funds raised, the Cancer Survivor Celebration was a success, said event organizer Peggy Temple. The celebration was held on Thursday, Aug. 17 where around 30 cancer survivors turned out for a dinner and fundraiser held at Superior High School.

The guest speaker for the evening was cancer survivor Dale Scarborough from Tarkio, followed by a cake auction and luminaria celebration in the halls of the school. Temple said they had moved the event inside the school which was a good thing because of the smoke from wildfires in the area.

Traditionally, the event takes place for several hours as a Relay for Life. In bigger communities, teams walk around a high school race track for 24 hours. In Mineral County team members would take turns going around the track for a 12-hour period. Over the past few years the event had been shortened from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. to six hours, from 6 p.m. to midnight.

The event symbolizes someone who has been diagnosed with cancer when darkness sets in and then when they find hope the sun rises. Traditionally there was also a memory tent and the luminaries which honor individuals who have died from cancer or are survivors, line the track in the darkness.

However, due to dwindling member participation and low volunteer turnout, the group decided to make the event shorter this year to just a couple of hours with the dinner, cake auction and luminary celebration.

“The big thing is honoring our survivors and to raise money to support research for finding a cure,” said Temple.

In years past a large silent auction would take place and raised between $4,000 to $5,000. However, due to the lack of manpower the group couldn’t pull it together. Temple said the lack of support wasn’t just on the local level but they also didn’t get help from the American Cancer Society office in Missoula. Normally the Mineral County planning committee would have 10 to 15 members. This year is was down to just five, spearheaded by Temple and Patti Pickering.

The Missoula office would also appoint someone to help with fundraising and events. But their office is being reorganized and they have experienced staff cuts. Also, local Relay for Life teams have had trouble recruiting members to participate in the Relay.

“Last year it poured rain for the entire event,” said Temple. “It was just wet and muddy and we couldn’t even put the luminaries around the track and ended up putting them in the high school gym.”

The group raised about $10,000 this year which is about half of what has been raised in recent years. However, the lack of donations does not affect the cancer programs in Mineral County. The American Cancer Society will continue to support things like the Road to Recovery Program, the Feel Good, Feel Better Program and help with transportation costs.

The Road to Recovery Program has many people from Mineral County who drive area cancer patients to Missoula or Spokane for treatment. The Look Good, Feel Better Program is where patients can get wigs and makeup, because their skin and hair changes so much from chemotherapy treatments.

“They can get products and just be able to feel like they’re not looking beat-up from chemo,” said Temple.

Programs also provide lodging and travel expenses for patients who may need to travel, including airline tickets. Plus there’s a cancer hotline people can call for information.

Nationally cancer survival rates have gone up dramatically, she said. This is because of the research that’s been done by the American Cancer Society. Even things like prostate cancer are no longer an automatic death sentence like they used to be.

Temple’s father passed away from cancer, as well as several close friends. She also has friends who are cancer survivors, “you would be hard pressed to find someone who hasn’t been touched by the disease in some way,” she said.

In 2017, the American Cancer Society estimates that more than 1.6 million new cancer cases will be diagnosed and more than 600,000 cancer deaths will occur in the United States, with 190,500 of those deaths the result of smoking cigarettes. Other cancer-causing lifestyle choices include excess body weight, physical inactivity, excess alcohol consumption and poor nutrition.

Cancer screening tests also help prevent thousands of additional cancer deaths through identification and removal of premalignant abnormalities and detecting it at an early stage when treatment is more effective. Prevention and early detection are central to their mission of helping save lives, celebrate lives,and lead the fight for a world without cancer, according to the American Cancer Society.