Hope Floats

The Hope Floats - Wal-mart 67 Relay For Life team held a innovative and interesting fundraiser on October 20, 2012. When people made donations to the team their name was written on the bottom of a rubber duck. The ducks were then taken to the middle of the pond at Rich Mountain Community College and set adrift.



When the ducks were set adrift, Lady, a black lab, was sent into the water to retrieve a duck. The name on the first duck retrieved received a 40" flat screen HD TV, the second a Nook e-reader and the third a rocking chair.

 

It was a breezy day, and when all of the rubber ducks had been blown to shore, the kids present had a great time collecting the rubber ducks from the lake.



It was a great fundraiser and over 2200.00 was raised for Relay For Life.

Brandi Sachs - Volunteering to Find a Cure

Citizen of the Week by LeAnn Dilbeck - Published in the October 17, 2012 issue of The Polk County Pulse.

Family is an integral part of who so many of us are. But for many it goes much deeper and defines who we are. A statement that can be said for this week's Citizen, Brandi Myers Sachs. And family is who has inspired one of her greatest passions...an active outspoken champion of the Polk County Relay For Life. "It was devastating," says Myers through tears when she remembers getting the call that her Aunt Peggy had pancreatic cancer. Her aunt underwent treatments but lost her battle within only a few short months of diagnosis. Brandi had known of others with cancer but had never had the devastating illness strike so bitterly close to home and says she regrets now taking so long to become involved in helping to find a cure.

"When you become involved with Relay, you are helping to find a cure...97 cents of every dollar raised goes to research," says Sachs, and it is in that she finds great healing. "It's too late for my aunt but it's not too late for my mom or your aunt or your daughter...or on and on."  Through grief and loss, Brandi has discovered a passion that she chooses to champion a cause and make a profound difference...a difference that she may never actually see but finds inspiration and comfort in knowing she was part of a larger cause that worked to eradicate an illness that has devestated families across the globe.

Brandi moved to Mena with her parents Don and Judye Myers along with brothers Cotye and Justin when she was just two.  Don had been sent on "assignment" by his father to open a Sonic Drive-In.  And that he did.  The Myers Sonic Drive-In became a cornerstone business on the corner of Cherry and Hwy 71 as well as part of at least two generations of teenagers' memories that made the drive-in a regular weekend and after-school hangout spot.  In 2000, the family made a very tough decision to discontinue their Sonic franchise and the restaurant became Myers Cruizzers Drive-In.  "It was a really big decision for my Dad but he believed as long as we continued to give good service we'd be fine."  Brandi said the business barely experienced a hiccup and the customers continued to turn-in day after day.

Now the three siblings share the responsibility of running the same drive-in that was such a big part their own childhood.  Brandi graduated from Mena High School in 1991 and married her husband, David, in 1996.  The couple have two children, Ridge age 14, and Brickie, age 10.  "My life didn't begin untill I had them," sand Brandi.

She said the family enjoys camping, four-wheeling, and just spending time together.  Each of the Myers siblings have homes near their parents, Don and Judye.

Just as passionate as her advocacy for cancer, Brandi wants her children to have the same childhood she had where her parents instilled the values and beliefs she still carries today.  "You want to raise them right...raise them so they know how to make the right choices."

Brandi also enjoys photography but even in her hobby it is in her appreciation for family that she finds fulfillment.  When asked what she found the most fulffilling about her photography, she said immediately and simply, "preserving those memories for the families."

Quite satisfied raising her family in the same hometown where she was raised, Brandi enjoys working at the drive-in, being a wife and a mom.  When asked where she saw herself in ten years, she said, "well, I hope as happy and as blessed as I have been the last ten!"






 

Newly Diagnosed? Top 5 Questions You Should Ask Your Care Team

Hearing the words “you have cancer” is enough to send any mind spinning. You may have a million questions running through your head, and you may not know where to start when it comes to asking for information about your diagnosis and treatment. However, opening up a dialogue with your care team is the best way to get the answers you need to make informed decisions about your health. The list below will help you ask the right questions as you start your cancer journey.

1. Exactly what kind of cancer do I have? All cancers start with an uncontrolled growth of cells in the body, but different kinds of cancer behave very differently. They may grow at different rates and respond to different treatments – and not just because they affect different parts of the body. There can also be sub-types of breast cancer, for example, that behave differently from other sub-types of breast cancer. Learning your exact diagnosis and the l name of your cancer is the first step in understanding your diagnosis and helping others understand it, too.
2. What stage is my cancer, and what does that mean?  Staging is a concise way to describe the size of a particular cancer growth and also how far the cancer may have spread beyond where it started. Cancers can range from stage I to stage IV, with stage I describing the smallest tumors located in only one area of the body and stage IV describing larger growths or cancer that has spread. The stage is very important in making decisions about the best treatment, for example a stage I breast cancer will be treated very differently from a stage IV breast cancer. Knowing the stage also can help your doctor talk to you about how likely you are to respond to treatment and survive the cancer. Ask your doctor to explain what stage cancer you have and why it was staged that way. You may need to have some additional tests or even surgery for doctors to fully stage your cancer.
3. What are my treatment choices? There may be more than one way to treat your cancer. Learning about the effectiveness, potential side effects, and long-term outcomes of different cancer treatments can help you make the best decision about the next steps in your care. Ask what the goal of the treatment is: Are you working to get rid of the cancer, keep it from spreading, or simply relieve some symptoms? Also ask what the long-term effects of potential treatments might be. Some treatments can permanently affect your fertility or other bodily functions or increase your risk of a second cancer in the future.
4. What will life be like during treatment? Knowing what to expect on a day-to-day basis during treatment can help you feel more calm and prepared as you move forward. Ask about the basics, such as where your treatment will take place, how long it will last, and how often you will need to go. Also ask how the treatment might impact your daily activities: Will you still be able to attend work or school? Drive a car? Travel? Get an idea of how the treatment might impact your body, too. Will it be painful or cause physical side effects such as hair loss or fatigue? If you get details in advance, you can make a plan for how you will cope with these factors if and when they happen.
5. How much will it cost? Although money may be the last thing you want to talk about, cancer will likely impact your finances as well as your body. After talking with your doctor about treatment options, talk with your insurance company or the financial office of your hospital or clinic to get a clear idea of how much your care will cost. Ask about the costs of any treatment and about the costs of medicines or any home care services you may need. If you need help paying for your care, ask to talk with a social worker who may be able to guide you to resources to help you.

The Most Effective Breast Cancer-Fighting Organization in the World

Written by W. Phil Evans, M.D., F.A.C.R., the director of the Center for Breast Care at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. 

As a radiologist specializing in breast imaging and an American Cancer Society volunteer for many years, I have a unique perspective on life-saving early detection with mammography and the extraordinary role of the Society in breast cancer care. Over the years, I have had to tell many women that they have breast cancer, and the Society has always been there for them. Today, one of every two women newly diagnosed with breast cancer reaches out to the Society for help and support. In every community, we provide free information and services–when and where it’s needed.

Doctors know that when found early rather than late, breast cancer is much easier to treat, and the chance of survival is significantly greater. The Society has helped translate this knowledge into action that has improved and saved many lives by increasing public awareness of breast cancer, developing screening guidelines, and providing clinician education programs. For years, the Society has recommended that women begin screening at age 40 with yearly mammography and clinical breast exam.  Largely due to screening and improved treatments, the breast cancer death rate has decreased by over 30% since 1990 and will approach a 40% reduction by 2015.

Although screening mammography is very effective in reducing breast cancer deaths, it does have limitations. Mammography detects most but not all breast cancers early.  A clinical examination and breast awareness are part of the screening process for women at average breast cancer risk.  If you have a strong family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer, genetic testing may be appropriate to determine if you have a gene mutation that places you and possibly a member of your family at a higher risk of developing breast cancer.  Additional imaging with ultrasound and/or MRI in addition to mammography may be recommended for those at high risk.

While we do not yet know how to prevent breast cancer, research supported by the Society suggests how a woman may reduce her breast cancer risk by:

• Maintaining a healthy body weight throughout life,
• Engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity, and
• Reducing alcohol intake to no more than one drink per day.

For women diagnosed with breast cancer, the Society is ready to help around the clock in communities nationwide. The National Cancer Information Center (1-800-227-2345 or cancer.org) is staffed 24/7 with specialists who answer calls and e-mails and monitor chat room discussions.  They assist patients and caregivers with information requests and service referrals.  We provide emotional support for the newly diagnosed both in person and online, transportation assistance to and from treatment, free lodging if treatment is far from home, free wigs and help with treatment-related side effects, and tips, tools, and resources for nutritional needs during treatment, recovery, and survivorship.

The Society passionately fights back against breast cancer through Making Strides Against Breast Cancer –the largest network of breast cancer events in the nation, uniting more than 270 communities to fund the fight. The walks are 3-5 miles and the walkers raised more than $60 million last year to find cures and save lives. In addition, through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), our nonprofit, nonpartisan, advocacy affiliate, breast cancer remains a top priority for our nation’s lawmakers. Through ACS CAN, we support federal legislation that will increase access to treatment for breast cancer patients and quality of life for survivors. Moreover, ACS CAN has lobbied Congress for continued support the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). This program helps low income, uninsured, and underinsured women obtain access to screening and treatment and has provided over 10 million screening exams to four million women, finding more than 52,000 breast cancers. Finally, ACS CAN urges Congress to robustly fund breast cancer research that will improve prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship.

The American Cancer Society has played a role in nearly every major breast cancer breakthrough in recent history and will continue the work until the disease is defeated.

Local Relay Leaders Attend Leadership Summit

 Article published in the September 27, 2012 issue of The Mena Star

The American Cancer Society held the Mid-South Division Relay For Life Leadership Summit September 21^st and 22^nd at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Arkansas.  Four members of the Relay For Life of Polk County committee attended the Summit; Richie and Regina Lawry, Crystal Mos, and Debbie Welch.  The purpose of the Summit was to inspire hope, courage, and determination in the fight to eliminate cancer. If there is one word that defines Relay For Life it is "hope".

The Relay For Life Leadership Summit welcomed over 1,200 volunteers from Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky.  The theme of the Summit was Dream Big - Hope Big - Relay Big.  Cancer is a BIG foe.  To defeat it we are going to have to Dream BIG, Hope BIG and Relay BIG.  In 2011, Arkansas held 71 Relay For Life events with 1,534 teams and 2,990 cancer survivors participating. Arkansas Relayers are looking for bigger things in 2013. 

Relay For Life represents the hope that those lost to cancer will never be forgotten, that those who face cancer will be supported, and that one day cancer will be eliminated.  Relay For Life is more than just a fundraiser. It’s a life-changing experience. At Relay, every person in the community has a chance to celebrate, remember, and fight back. And every person who participates joins others around the globe as part of this worldwide movement to end cancer.

The Relay For Life of Polk County attendees came back determined to dream big, hope big and Relay big.  If you would like to be a part of something big, call Regina Lawry at 479-234-1608.

Lawry Continues Commitment to Relay For Life

Lawry continues commitment to Relay For Life, receives recognition

By Scarlett Thompson 

American Cancer Society

Published in a supplement to The Mena Star - May 24,2012 

Regina Lawry of Arkansas started volunteering for the American Cancer Society at an early age, when her mother would go around their neighborhood collecting money for the organization. “She told me you just never know who it might help,” says Lawry.

                 

Turns out, the money collected by Lawry and her mother may have helped their own family.  Regina’s mother would eventually battle leukemia and her father faced colon cancer.  Three of her sisters were diagnosed with breast cancer.  Her brother fought skin cancer.  Regina is the only one of her immediate family to not get a diagnosis.  “I feel like I live my life waiting for the other shoe to drop,” says Lawry, who manages a credit union in the town of Mena.

               

That’s why Lawry still volunteers for the American Cancer Society.  She says she knows first-hand that research is critical, by again, watching her mother. “During her treatments she participated in a bone marrow study.  At that time they told her it was very painful and would not help her but the research would help someone else down the line,” says Lawry.  “Twenty years later a bone marrow transplant saved my sister Lenora’s life.”

The American Cancer Society helped fund the development of the bone marrow transplant.  That procedure helped Lawry’s sister live 13 years more until the cancer returned.  Lawry cared for Lenora during that time, which included helping her get to sessions of the American Cancer Society’s Look Good…Feel Better program.  It helps women who are undergoing treatment deal with skin and hair changes, offering them free wigs and tips on how to apply makeup.  “Lenora put her face on every morning before we left the house for her bone marrow treatments.  She said she had to have a little dignity,” says Lawry.

Meantime, one of Lawry’s other sisters was battling breast cancer too.  It was her sister Roberta who introduced Lawry to the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life, an event where participants form teams to raise money for patient programs, research and much more.  Survivors are celebrated, those lost to cancer are remembered and every one at the event gets a chance to fight back against the disease through Relay.  “When I watched my four siblings walk around the track arm in arm during the Survivor’s Lap and then saw my mother’s name and my father’s name on luminary bags, I knew this was something I had to get involved in,” says Lawry.

                 

Since then, Lawry has been involved in her local Relay For Life event, and representing her community as a Hero of Hope.  It’s an opportunity for her to travel and share with others the impact of the American Cancer Society. “I know the American Cancer Society makes a difference.  I’ve seen it in my own family,” says Lawry.  “The American Cancer Society funded research that helped develop treatments for leukemia, Tamoxifen and many other drugs.”

Lawry says she’ll keep taking part in Relay, not only for the future but for someone in her past. “I show my mother’s luminary to my granddaughters and think how proud she would have been of us all and if only those ground breaking treatments for leukemia would have come just a few years earlier.  I relay for my granddaughters so that if they ever get cancer there is a treatment to save their life,” says Lawry.

Relay For Life makes a difference in community

Polk County Relay For Life makes a difference in community, for research
by Andy Philpot

Published in the May 24, 2012 issue of The Mena Star

As Relay For Life is now a well established tradition in Polk County, it serves many more purposes that meets the eye.  Co-chairs of the local Relay For Life, Regina and Richie Lawry, can tell you that while the event itself is one weekend of the year, the efforts are a year -round effort.  This year-round effort that the Lawrys have instilled into making Relay For Life as successful as possible in our communities, the same commitment is followed by a number of organizations, businesses, and individuals, who seek to raise as much money as possible for Relay For Life.  This money in turn goes toward cancer research, which in turn leads to more treatments of the many cancers our friends and family encounter, which in turn leads to many more birthdays and reasons to celebrate.

Last year Polk County Relay For Life raised 66,000, which combined with the rest of the Relay For life events that took place in Arkansas, a total of $4.5 million was raised by Relay For Life events across the state in 2011.  This total gets combined with all the other Relay For Life events that take place nation-wide, all of which are raised for the American Cancer Society to use toward cancer research.  With the ultimate goal of one day eliminating the words "You Have Cancer" being spoken by doctors, it takes a collective effort to reach this goal.

                                         Keisha Pittman

Helping to emphasize the significance of every dollar that is raised in community Relays, two different testimonies were shared at this year's Polk County Relay For Life.  Keisha Pittman, from Arkadelphia, shared her cancer battle testimony during the opening ceremonies of this year's Relay, and emphasized that every dollar amount is important toward the shared goal of defeating cancer.  She spoke how community Relay For Life events in both big cities and smaller towns are all invaluable because they all go toward the common goal.  The funds of Relay For Life are what helps make continued research and advancements in cancer treatments possible.

                                Deidra Porter

Deidra Porter, of Conway, shared her testimony just before the Luminaria ceremony, and how her cancer experience has her that much more an advocate for Relay For Life events throuought the devoted communities.  Porter was diagnosed with cancer, and moments before she was to begin her first treatment, she learned she was pregnant.  Like Pittman, Porter's testimony was both emotional and inspirational.  Porter not only endured cancer and now can share her story with others, but she also has a healthy son that has endured the treatments.  Sharing the exact sentiment of Pittman, Porter praised Relay For Life and how every dollar raised in important to the overall goal of seeking an end to cancer.

Pittman and Porter traveled to Mena to share their testimonies with the Polk County Relay For Life participants, and their stories are added to the always growing list of cancer survivors that do hear the words "You Have Cancer", but endure the battle and can proudly wear a purple shirt as they walk the Survivors Lap.

Relay For Life is held for the purpose of celebrating the survivors, remembering those we have lost, and giving hope that one day the world may be cancer free.  Through the celebrating and remembering, the success gets passed along to the American Cancer society through the fundraising that happens all year long.  With each Relay For life that takes place, it adds to the overall funding that can be used toward cancer research and treatments.

                                          Gordy Klatt

Relay For Life has been raising money for the American Cancer Society since 1985, when Gordy Klatt came up with a way to raise funds for his local American Cancer Society office in Tacoma, Washington, and show support of all his patients who had battled cancer.  He did this by spending 24 hours circling the track at Baker Stadium at the University of Puget Sound.  He ran more than 83 miles and his efforts raised $27,000 to fight cancer.  It has only gotten bigger and better from there.