Why I Relay

The annual Relay For Life is less than three weeks away, and many people are thinking about the reasons they relay.

Over the years the Relay For Life event has served as a gathering place for the community to support those who have cancer, have survived cancer, or who have loved ones experiencing cancer.

The experience isn’t as serious for some who have never dealt with the effects of the deadly disease, but for others it’s a very emotional experience filled with tears of joy for some and tears of sadness for others.

For Franklin County Chamber of Commerce executive director Nina McNatt, she has many reasons why she relays, the first of which is her mother, Nell Hollimon, who was diagnosed with stomach and esophageal cancer in April of 1987.

“My mother was the first person I ever knew of to have cancer, so her diagnosis really introduced me to the disease,” McNatt said. “The news was devastating because back then when someone had cancer, you knew they were going to die, and here I was, newly married and 20 years old, and I still had a lot to learn from my mom.”

McNatt said she took her mother to her chemotherapy treatments the entire time she was pregnant with her daughter, Kassie, and her dad took her mom after Kassie was born.

“Over those months we had friends, family, church members and neighbors who would stay with her and take her to her treatments,” McNatt said. “It really was a group effort and we couldn’t have done it without that support.”

McNatt’s mother finally succumbed to the disease in November of 1988, 18 months after her diagnosis.

“At the end, she knew it was time before we did,” McNatt said. She told me she wouldn’t be here much longer, but I didn’t believe it. When it happened I was in shock because you’re never really prepared for that type of loss.”

Approximately 10 years later, McNatt had to endure the grueling process all over again when her friend and mentor, Patsy Seeley, was diagnosed with a brain tumor and ultimately passed away.

“I babysat for Patsy for years and she was there for me and helped fill that mother-daughter relationship role that I was missing when my mom died,” McNatt said. “I’ll forever be thankful for the things she taught me.”

McNatt said the process with Seeley was harder in some ways because it was a different type of cancer.

“Losing Patsy was like losing them both all over again,” McNatt said. “Once again, if I hadn’t had that support system, I couldn’t have gotten through it.”

On top of those two devastating loses and the loss of her grandmother when she was very young, McNatt has had several other people in her life who are cancer survivors that are now reasons why she relays: her father and a family friend who are prostate cancer survivors, her father-in-law who is a colon cancer survivor, and her husband’s grandmother who is a breast cancer survivor.

“I was part of the very first Relay For Life in Franklin County and I will always remember that experience because of the emotion I felt,” McNatt said. “Every step I took was for each one of my mom’s chemo treatments, each day she felt sick and for each hospital stay.

“It was cleansing for me and a way for me to start the healing process.”

McNatt said while the Relay For Life is still a way to find healing, it has evolved over the years into a way to fight back and find a cure.

“I also relay because I want my grandchildren and their grandchildren to be able to say, ‘What is cancer? I’ve never heard of that,’” McNatt said. “You relay for the loved ones you’ve lost and the ones who are still fighting, but it’s important to relay for the future generations so they don’t have to relay one day.”

McNatt said many people don’t feel the need to attend the Relay For Life because they haven’t been directly affected by cancer, but she knows all too well that can change in an instant.

“One things people need to understand is that cancer has no boundaries,” McNatt said. “You may not be affected by it today, but you could be in two years or two days. What you do today is helping friends, family and church members who could be diagnosed tomorrow.”

McNatt said the there really is no better way to fight back against cancer than through donations and participation.

“The Relay For Life lasts 12 hours and we really encourage everyone to stay, because a lot of times people leave after the luminary ceremony,” McNatt said. “When you think about 12 hours, it may seem like a long time, but when you relate it back to the number of hours someone has spent getting chemo, being sick, having surgery and the time shedding tears, it’s minor in comparison to those many hours of suffering.”

McNatt, who serves on the Franklin County Relay For Life committee, said there are many games, activities and great musical acts planned for this year’s event on May 6 at the Russellville High School football stadium.

The relay will start at 7 p.m. with a survivor’s lap and a caretaker’s lap.

The luminary ceremony will begin at 9 p.m. and there will be a pep rally after the ceremony to keep things going.

“This is going to be a great event, and we hope everyone in the community will come out and support it,” McNatt said.