SHELBY ASHLINE
Recorder Staff
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GREENFIELD – Over the years, the Johnson family has been affected by cancer time and time again. They’ve even put together a quilt with the faces of 26 family members and friends who have been diagnosed, nine of whom have now passed.
The quilt, a deep blue with gold stars, waved in the breeze as hundreds of survivors their loved ones walked laps around the half-mile track at the Franklin County Fairgrounds, kicking off the 21st annual Franklin County Relay For Life.
“We keep our loved ones close by,” said Linda Tyler, captain of “The Johnson Clan” and a survivor of skin cancer. It is Tyler’s 15th year participating in Relay.
“When your family has been affected as much as we’ve been affected, it means a lot,” Tyler, 61, of Greenfield, said. “On our team alone, we’ve had six survivors. Two passed away in the last two years.”
It all began for Tyler in 2000, when she and her late aunt Marilyn Johnson O’Brien were invited to visit Relay by a friend.
“We saw the luminaria, and we cried,” Tyler remembers. The very next year, Johnson O’Brien, who was also diagnosed with cancer, put together “The Johnson Clan.”
“I look forward to (Relay) every year,” Tyler said. “I won’t be stopping anytime soon.”
This year, “The Johnson Clan” has 12 members who have raised more than $3,000.
“I’m hoping it goes towards somebody’s cure,” said Debran Brocklessby, 64, of Bernardston and a member of “The Johnson Clan.”
Brocklessby has been participating in Relay since 2002 in honor of her mother, sister, daughter and cousins. Her sister, Sandi Brown, who has been battling multiple myeloma for eight years, traveled from Connecticut to participate in the Survivor’s Lap at 6 p.m.
Hundreds of survivors, surrounded by their loved ones, flooded onto the track, all wearing the signature Relay For Life purple. Many walked. Others, including Brown, followed behind in convertibles and golf carts as spectators applauded from the sidelines.
After the survivors, all other team members were invited to enter the track, many carrying banners with their team names and dressed in matching shirts.
By the start of registration Friday afternoon, 61 teams of 546 participants had raised over $145,000. Organizers hope to surpass the $225,000 that was earned by the end of last year’s Relay, with a new goal of $230,000.
“How do you give up on it?” Patricia Stafford, captain of “Stafford Striders,” said of Relay For Life.
By fundraising through a Mother’s Day breakfast at Hawlemont Regional Elementary School, a bake sale at A.L. Avery & Son General Store, a pie sale at Crab Apple Whitewater Inc. and food booths at the Cummington Fair and a car show, “Stafford Striders” were able to raise $11,228 coming into Relay, beating their $10,000 goal.
“(Charlemont) is a small town but we get a lot of support from our community,” Stafford said.
Stafford has been bringing her team back to Relay for 19 years now, and in the past 18, “Stafford Striders” have raised $73,419 for the American Cancer Society.
This year, the team has 17 members, including Tracy Hall, 33, of Charlemont, who says she participates in Relay for her grandparents and friends who have been diagnosed.
However, the participants also love the social aspect of Relay.
“I enjoy just having the weekend with my family,” Hall said.
“Everybody knows everybody else,” Brocklessby said, joking that even after surviving many terrible thunderstorms during Relay, she keeps coming back.
“I want a cure,” she said simply. “Too many people in my family have suffered.”
The luminaria ceremony to honor loved ones who are still fighting their battle with cancer, as well as those who have died from the disease, will take place at 9 p.m. As the sun goes down, the candles will light the track.
By the time of the Survivor’s Lap at 6 p.m., luminarias easily encircled more than half of the track. Additional luminarias were set up on bleachers near the far end of the track, spelling out the word “HOPE.”
The 21st annual Franklin County Relay for Life will continue through 3 p.m. Saturday.