• Family laces up for Relay For Life
• Survivors walk so others may live

  Survivors walk so others may live
  By JAN TORMAY
  The Norwich Bulletin
  Saturday, October 19, 2002
  Special to the Bulletin

  WILLIMANTIC -- Mary Belanger has breast cancer and Martha King has uterine cancer.
  Besides being sisters, they have something else in common -- a sense of humor.

  They've named their 34-member team for Relay For Life of Windham this weekend "Kings of the Road" and plan on periodically singing the song by that name with different words during the 24-hour event. Their campsite will have a hobo theme.

  The sixth annual event, which is held to raise money for the American Cancer Society, is expected to attract 90 teams and nearly 2,000 walkers. It begins at 11 a.m. Saturday and ends at 11 a.m. Sunday at the Eastern Connecticut State University Athletic Complex in Willimantic.

  Cancer survivors will walk the first lap.

  Carol Palonen, a registered nurse and co-chairwoman of the fundraising event, said the goal is to raise $250,000 toward cancer-related research, education, advocacy and patient services. Last year, the event raised $204,000.

  "Cancer survivors have to deal with the disease 24 hours a day, seven days a week," Palonen said. "They never get a break from it. That's why the walk was scheduled for 24 hours."

  There will be craft activities for children, a chorus group from E. O. Smith High School in Storrs and professional and school bands playing jazz, blues, Latino and rock music.

  On a humorous note, a quitter's lap is scheduled for 5 p.m. Saturday. All those who walk will be given a long, cigar type pretzel to appease their oral fixation, Palonen said.

  Belanger of Ashford had a mastectomy in January and began chemotherapy the same month. In July, she began radiation treatments and only has one more week before they finish. She's glad, too, because she said the treatments make her feel very tired.

  "Martha has been a role model for me," Belanger, 48, a special needs teacher's aide at E. O. Smith High School, said. "When you tell others it gives you strength. Those hugs makes you realize it's worth fighting," she said.

  Eighteen months ago, King said, she learned she had uterine cancer and she had a hysterectomy.

  She participated in the survivor's lap last year and said she is very excited about this year's walk.

  "I feel cancer is just one part of your life and you keep on going on," King, 54, said. "A positive attitude is an important part of healing as much as the medicine."

  Her two children, Stephen, 24, and Allison, 13, will also be at the event.

  King offered the following advice to people with cancer: "Look on the Internet, get second and third opinions, talk to people and then trust your doctors. Pray miracles happen."

  King said she remains hopeful because doctors are always discovering new medicines.

  King and Belanger's parents know about surviving cancer firsthand. Their father, Robert King, 81, has been fighting prostate cancer for five years. Their mother, Thelma King, 81, had uterine cancer seven years ago and had a hysterectomy.

  Event co-chairwoman Bernice Szafarek said the walk had to be moved from Windham High School to the Eastern Athletic Complex to accommodate more walkers, volunteers and the community.

  Martha lost her battle with her cancer not long after the 2002 Relay.

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