'It's a celebration'

Justin Banks was so weak from cancer treatments that he was barely able to walk 50 feet during the cancer survivor's opening lap around the track at Adamson Field before growing tired at last year's Relay for Life.

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Oh, what a difference a year can make.

Sue Beck (left) and Justin Banks are the 2010 Relay for Life honorary cancer survivors for Relay for Life of Crow Wing County on Friday at Adamson Field in Brainerd.

Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls

The 11-year-old Baxter boy, who was diagnosed June 26, 2009, with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, is in remission and feeling great. He has big plans for this year's Relay For Life, which begins at 5 p.m. Friday, ending at 5 a.m. Saturday, at Adamson Field. The sixth-grader is hoping to stay up all night at the annual fundraising relay event for the American Cancer Society, having fun playing games and hanging out with his friends and family. While Banks still has monthly chemotherapy treatments, which will continue through October 2012, he's doing well.

"It's exactly what we hoped for," Travis Banks said of his son's cancer-free diagnosis. He and his wife, Tracy, will be running several games at Relay, including the minnow races. "It's a celebration."

Sue Beck couldn't make it to last year's Relay For Life event because she was too ill. She was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago on July 21, 2008. She found out last week that she continues to be cancer-free.

Together, Beck and Banks will lead all cancer survivors for the opening lap at 7 p.m. Friday for Relay For Life as the honorary survivor and honorary youth survivor for the event.

All area cancer survivors - anyone who has ever heard the words 'You have cancer' - are encouraged to join them for the survivor's reception at 5 p.m. Friday at Adamson Field.

Relay For Life may be an emotional event, but it's not a sad one. Tammy Tschida, team development chair, and Denice Young, event chair, said the evening is a celebration. The theme this year is "Imagine a world with more birthdays."

See RELAY, Page 5A

The event has 37 teams with 288 registered participants so far. The event has no entry fee and those who wish to join the festivities may stop down to Adamson and walk the track with the teams if they wish, or start their own team. Young said this year volunteers have golf carts to give rides around the track to those battling cancer who may be too sick to walk. It's an opportunity for them to join their teammates and participate. The goal is that one person from each team is walking on the track at all times.

The event includes food vendors, games for those of all ages, a silent auction with more than 100 items, which will take place from 5-9:30 p.m. A luminary ceremony will begin at 10 a.m., which will involve 2,500-3,000 luminaries lighted around the track in memory of those who died of cancer and in honor of those who have battled cancer. This year there will be a large lighted "birthday cake" in the bleachers.

There are many other special activities planned, including a presentation from the Crow Wing County Bomb Squad, said Young.

"It's like a little carnival down here," said Young. "There's something for everybody at Relay."

Banks has his own team for the event and Beck will be walking on the Lord of Life Lutheran Church team. She'll be helping her team sell brats to raise funds for the event from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at SuperOne Foods in Baxter.

"It's just the positive energy that's there," Beck said of Relay for Life. "All these people are here for one purpose, to celebrate life and to raise funds for cancer research. For me, it's an opportunity to celebrate. I've been so supported in this community after I was diagnosed."

Banks and his father echoed her remarks. Justin Banks said it makes him smile when he sees other youth wearing their J. Banks t-shirts that were sold to raise funds to help his family during his cancer ordeal.

"I go to school and at least one kid out of 100 have a J. Banks shirt on," said he said. "It's amazing."

For more information on Relay for Life, visit the website, www.relayforlife.org/crowwingmn or e-mail relayhelps@yahoo.com.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.