Cancer survivors celebrate at 2024 Relay for Life in Kern County
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — In news around town, cancer survivors came together to walk the Relay for Life at the Kern County Fairgrounds this weekend.
For many, the walk is a chance to bond with other survivors, but for others, the relay is a chance to celebrate the memory of the ones who lost their battle to cancer.
“I’m here from Vegas celebrating Bakersfield, they are awesome,” said Michelle Harris Dixon, who won her own battle against cancer. “I’m a survivor and I’m ready to say adios to cancer.”
It’s Bakersfield’s 33rd year of the Relay for Life at the Kern County Fairgrounds, where survivors take steps to stomp cancer.
Chris Schwartz was diagnosed with the incurable plasma cell cancer.
“It’s kind of dormant right now and I just keep doing everyday and I teach for a living,” said Chris Schwartz. “I love my job.”
Survivors are tough, but not as tough as the family left behind.
“The first one was with my husband who was a survivor, carried the torch, and he passed away a year ago in March,” said Abigail Toledo. “The first one without him was last year. This one for some reason is harder.”
Abigail Toledo is honoring the memory of her late husband who beat stomach cancer, but it wasn’t gone.
“It came back to the peritoneum,” said Toledo. “It just ate him alive, inside and out.”
This is her 3rd Relay for Life reliving painful memories for a purpose.
“I don’t want my children or anybody else to have to go through that anymore,” said Toledo.
Some families at the relay have even lost their babies to cancer.
Stephanie Register lost her to cancer more than 20 years ago.
“Gracie was 3-years-old when she passed away. She had a brain stem tumor,” said Stephanie Register. “She has an identical twin sister who’s now a nurse back in Massachusetts at UMass Hospital.”
Register does the Relay for Life every year to give back to the American Cancer Society who helped pay for hotel rooms and gas so she could travel to UCLA for her daughter’s treatment.
In more than 30 years, $25 million has been raised in Bakersfield for research, resources and for hope, to make sure we can stop cancer once and for all.
The Relay for Life continues at the Kern County Fairgrounds on Sunday.
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