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Cancer survivors and their caregivers ran a lap around the survivors after the Relay for Life opening ceremony. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Honorary chairwoman Nicki Griffith shared her story of a rare cancer at the Relay for Life event in Freeborn-Mower County. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Pastor Don Malinsky sang a hymn and led the prayer at the Freeborn-Mower Relay for Life event on Friday. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Hundreds of luminaria bags were placed at the fairgrounds for this year’s Freeborn-Mower County Relay for Life. Gold bags symbolized lives lost to cancer, while purple bags were dedicated to survivors. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

Cancer survivors and caregivers return from the survivor’s lap during Freeborn-Mower County’s Relay for Life event. Ayanna Eckblad/Albert Lea Tribune

By Ayanna Eckblad

The Freeborn County Fairgrounds were packed Friday night for the 2024 Freeborn-Mower County Relay for Life event. This year, the charity run for cancer patients took place in Freeborn, Mower and Waseca counties.

This decision was made to keep Mower and Waseca counties active in Relay for Life, even if they could not hold the event separately. Throughout the fairgrounds, hundreds of paper bags with luminaria motifs for friends and loved ones decorated walkways, lawns, and the grandstand. There was an area dedicated to remembering those who had died from cancer, symbolized by gold luminaria motifs, as well as purple luminaria motifs for cancer survivors.

This was a community effort with many businesses and individuals donating money, time or items to the event’s silent auction. Freeborn County 4-Hers also served food in the Fairlane Building during the event.

Diane Hanson, one of the event’s main organizers, has been helping organize Relay for Life events for many years. She became involved after her brother was diagnosed with leukemia. When she began volunteering for Relay for Life, she decided to get her local Girl Scout troop involved. Eight years ago, she started helping with her church’s Relay for Life event.

“Many people in my family have died of cancer,” Hanson said. “So this is very important to me.”

The opening ceremony began in the stands with the presentation of flags by members of the Freeborn County Honor Guard, followed by the singing of the national anthem. Don Malinsky sang a hymn and then prayed for the event.

Guest speaker Luke Hoeppner, associate professor and director of the Cancer Biology Research Division at the Hormel Institute at the University of Minnesota, delivered a speech acknowledging the great advances made in cancer research over the past few decades while emphasizing the work that remains to be done in finding new cancer treatments and cures.

Honorary Chair Nicki Griffith was the keynote speaker at the event, sharing her story of her battle with a rare form of cancer, ampullary adenocarcinoma.

She described the journey of her cancer diagnosis and the treatments she went through. She also talked about the challenges she still faces after completing treatment.

She then took the time to thank her family, friends, doctors and hospital staff who made her recovery possible.

Griffith concluded her speech by telling the crowd that she and a group of close friends had decided to all get elephant tattoos.

The significance of the design is huge for Griffith, and she expressed what it represents with a quote from The Festive Farm Co.: “In the wild, female elephants are known as fierce protectors, and when one of their sisters is suffering, they circle her. They huddle together, guarding her, even kicking up dust around her to hide her vulnerable scent from predators; and yet we are all the same. That is who we are, and who we are meant to be for each other. Sometimes we are the ones in the middle. Sometimes we are the ones kicking up dust with wild, wild love. But the circle always remains.”

After Griffith’s speech, cancer survivors and caregivers were invited to be the first to walk the Relay for Life path in a “survivor’s lap.” Others were encouraged to join after survivors returned to the starting point. The evening ended with the lighting of luminaria bags. People of all ages and abilities walked together, honoring the people in their lives who had been affected by cancer.