I was able to spend the evening of Friday, Aug. 12, at the Faribault County Fairgrounds.

No, it was not time for the fair. Or baseball. Or go-kart racing.

It was the Faribault County Relay for Life night.

Normally the two crack Register reporters and I split up the duties of going out and covering events around the county. However, I generally always take on the Relay for Life myself, and go and spend four, or five hours there shooting photos, and shooting the breeze with the folks I meet there. Yes, I know. Me talking to people does not shock those of you who know me well.

I end up taking a lot of pictures. And, I end up talking to a lot of people. Some I see quite often, but many are folks I have not seen in a while. Like Kathy Johnson, who is the treasurer of the Relay. And those “boys” who do the corn-shucking. They are always good for some humorous conversation as they shuck the corn for the meal. You can see a photo of them in action on page 13.

Then there are friends and neighbors that maybe I have seen lately and maybe it has been a while. Either way, we have a chance to get a little bit caught up. The Relay is a good place for doing just that.

I ran into three special people, the three ladies who were gracious enough to let us do stories about their dealing with cancer. We wrote and published stories about Bonita Zimmer, Jodell Sanders and Rita Frette in our recent Relay for Life magazine. All three were at the Relay, and I thanked all three of them for being willing to share their very personal stories with us, and thus also with all of our readers.

All three said they were glad to do it. All three thought it was very important to tell their story, just so other people who have cancer would have hope.

I have known Bonita and Jodell for a long time, but I had not met Rita before I actually interviewed her for the story for the Relay for Life magazine. We had a great interview, as she was totally prepared for it with a list of dates, background on her cancer, and family information.

We had another nice conversation at the Relay.

Then something quite amazing happened.

Right before the survivor lap, every cancer survivor in attendance comes forward and Cindy Nelson has each one tell their name, type of cancer and how long they have been cancer-free.

You may recall from the story about Rita Frette, that she had one of the rarest forms of cancer, called GIST, which was a large tumor in her intestine. It is something like less than one percent of people with cancer have GIST.

However, at the Relay, Rita was shocked when Connie Egel, of Winnebago, had her turn to speak, and said she had had GIST cancer.

I was quite surprised to hear that, also. I know Connie, and I knew she had had cancer. I had just never known what kind.

You can imagine what happened next. The two GIST cancer survivors met up and had a great visit, with a lot to share about their experiences with having had the same rare cancer.

Both were quite surprised to find another GIST cancer survivor in Faribault County.

Maybe that is the best thing about the Relay for Life, it is a chance for survivors to get together and share their stories and support each other. It is also a chance for families of survivors to do the same.

And, for that matter, it is a chance for the whole community to show support. A lot of people come and have the picnic meal (it is only $5 for a pork chop, corn on the cob, potato salad and even a chocolate chip cookie). Many people purchase $10 luminary bags (they had over 2,700 of them at this year’s Relay). The bags have on them names of loved ones who have had cancer.

Attendance was a bit down this year, as the Relay slowly comes back to normal after several years of dealing with COVID protocols.

Yet, this year the Faribault County Relay for Life raised enough money to put the total raised over 28 years to just over $2 million. All for cancer research. All for the hope of one day not needing to have a Relay for Life, because a cure for all cancers will have been found.

That is a pretty big deal. And, as the organizers of the event always say,

“This is why we Relay.”