Walking and talking to fight cancer

Published 8:44 pm Wednesday, May 19, 2010

STANWOOD — Jeny Heckman didn’t always think of herself as a public speaker.

She would fluster easily in front of a group. When she married her husband they eloped so she could avoid getting up in front of a large crowd of people.

After getting involved with an American Cancer Society Relay For Life event in Stanwood, the mother of two became something she never thought she would be: a public speaker.

“I spoke in front of 150 people at a relay event and have been speaking at every one of our relay rallies here in Stanwood,” she said.

Heckman, 41, informs people who are involved in Relay For Life events about the Cancer Prevention Study-3, started by the American Cancer Society in 2006. The study aims to recruit 500,000 adults nationwide who have never had cancer to learn ways to prevent it.

Enrollment in the study only occurs at select Relay For Life events across the country.

Heckman volunteered to serve as the study chairwoman at the Stanwood-Camano Relay For Life beginning Friday at the Stanwood High School Stadium.

Those who enroll will complete a written survey, provide a waist measurement and give a small blood sample, Heckman said. A larger survey about health and lifestyle is then mailed to the participant’s home along with follow-up surveys every few years.

“It’s just a matter of sending in a survey every other year and that’s it,” Heckman said. “I think a lot of people think there is more but really it’s just filling out a form.”

Heckman learned about Relay For Life during a memorial blood drive she organized a few months after her father-in-law, Chuck Heckman, died in March 2008 of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. A friend who came to the memorial blood drive looked exhausted, Heckman remembers. Her friend told her she was up most of the night before, walking in Relay For Life.

At the time, Heckman didn’t know much about Relay For Life, a fundraiser where participants form teams and walk laps in honor of loved ones who have cancer or died from cancer.

Last year, she remembered her friend’s commitment to attend the blood drive and asked to volunteer for the Stanwood-Camano Relay For Life. During the event’s luminaria ceremony, where people light bagged candles in someone’s honor, she participated in memory of her father-in-law.

“It was very moving to me,” she said. “I lit the bag and just thought about how close I felt to him at the moment and I started thinking about what she did for me that day and about what a volunteer does.”

That was the start of Heckman’s volunteer work for the American Cancer Society. She agreed to volunteer for this year’s relay event.

“The second I heard about (the study) I knew that’s what I wanted badly to do,” she said. “I lobbied for it, went to training and learned about it.”

Heckman is a perfect fit as chairwoman of the study at the Stanwood-Camano Relay For Life event, said Kerri Feay, co-chairwoman of the event.

“She’s very positive, a true good heart and a naturally giving person,” Feay said. “I’m going to go enroll in the study and so is my husband. I think it’s a fabulous opportunity.”

Heckman plans to walk the track with other members of her team, Hope In Motion, starting Friday night through Saturday morning. While she walks, she’ll remember her father-in-law, a man who battled cancer in most parts of his body for 19 years but still focused on how the people he loved were doing.

“He was one of those guys you wanted to know and if you were a friend of his you thought he was your best friend,” she said. “He wanted to be defined by who he was which was a loving, kind, generous man.”

Amy Daybert: 425-339-3491; adaybert@heraldnet.com.

Learn more

Adults ages 30 to 65 who have never been diagnosed with cancer can enroll in the American Cancer Society Cancer Prevention Study-3 by visiting the study tent from 5 to 9 p.m. Friday during the Stanwood-Camano Relay For Life event at the Stanwood High School stadium, 7400 272nd St. NW, Stanwood.