Walkers lap track to fight cancer
Published 10:28 pm Saturday, May 17, 2008
LYNNWOOD — Sarie Lattyak-Kinsella beat cancer, but the fear still remains.
Raised in Everett, Lattyak- Kinsella was diagnosed with Hodgkins lymphoma in 2003. On New Years Day, doctors told her she was officially cured.
Still, like many survivors, she worries about the cancer coming back. She struggles to comfort people who’ve been through what she did.
The best way to cope is to take action, she said.
On Saturday, Lattyak-Kinsella, 26, joined about 600 people who walked laps at Lynnwood High School in the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life. The large, enthusiastic group, which included about 70 cancer survivors, was expected to raise around $160,000 for cancer research and patient and survivor services.
“Even if you survive, it’s hard to know what to say or what to do, so things like this are nice,” Lattyak-Kinsella said. “Showing support is the best thing you can do.”
Tents lined the inside edge of the track at the Lynnwood High School football field. Large, wooden letters spelling “HOPE” stood on a set of metal bleachers. Each white letter was covered with paper bag luminarias honoring cancer victims and survivors.
More luminarias — decorated with pictures, names and messages — lined the edge of the high school track. At night, candles were to be placed in each bag, illuminating the path for the walkers.
Melissa Roth, 13, formed one of the 43 walking teams by gathering more than a dozen students from her seventh-grade class at St. Thomas More Parish School in Lynnwood. They walked in honor of Kat Kirby, a third-grader at the school, and Valerie Dalmau, a former student who moved to California last year. Both were diagnosed with cancer.
Kat, who is in remission, started the relay’s opening lap for survivors.
“I actually lost my grandma to cancer, and my aunt is a survivor,” Melissa Roth said. “A lot of our relatives are affected by cancer. It affects all of us.”
Reporter Scott Pesznecker: 425-339-3436 or spesznecker@heraldnet.com.
