This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

Happy Cancerversary Miguel!

Happy Cancerversary Miguel...2 years as a Survivor of Hodgkin's Lymphoma

For those of you that have participated in the American Cancer Society's Danville Relay for Life before you know that Cancer Survivors are our VIP's. Not only do we celebrate our Survivors on the day of Relay. We also celebrate them on their "Cancerversaries".  I would like to share one of those stories with you.

Miguel Martinez was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in September of 2010 when he was 21 years old. His tumor was wrapped around his spine which made him unable to walk. He started with two rounds of radiation and then had seven months of chemotherapy every other week. He traveled from Danville to Santa Clara for treatments. Thanks to money raised at our Relay for Life event Miguel was able to get gas mileage from the American Cancer Society to pay his mileage  while traveling to his treatments. On January 20, 2011 Miguel was informed he was in remission but they kept him on chemo until April to be sure. In July of 2011 Miguel participated in the Danville Relay for Life in a wheel chair surrounded by his amazing family and his Mother Mary-Ann who has been with him every step of the way. In July of 2012 Miguel not only agreed to be on the committee as our Luminaria Chair but was also able to walk the track unassisted.

On January 20, 2013 Miguel celebrated his 2 year Cancerversary. He will once again be at our Relay for Life event this summer on July 27th/28th, 2013. He will walk (we might get him to run a little) the first lap which all of our Cancer Survivors do while wearing their purple Survivor t-shirts. He is once again our Luminaria chair and you will see him instructing his volunteers where to put the luminaria bags on the bleachers to spell out the words CURE and FIGHT BACK. At dusk those bags are lighted as well as bags that have been set around the track. Each bag has been decorated by family members, friends, neighbors of love ones that are no longer survivors of cancer to remember them as well as our Survivors of cancer to Honor them.

Find out what's happening in Danvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

If you are a Cancer Survivor we would be honored to have you join us at Relay as our VIP. If you have a family member or a friend that is currently fighting cancer or is no longer with us but you want to FIGHT BACK we would be honored to have you start a team. Maybe you just are tired of hearing about Cancer we would love to have you start a team as well.

For more information and to register for Danville Relay for Life please visit www.RelayforLife.org/DanvilleCA or "LIKE" our Facebook page www.facebook.com/danvilleRFL or email us at DanvilleRelayforLife@gmail.com

Find out what's happening in Danvillewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Happy 2 Year Cancerversary Miguel. We are with you each step of the way.

 

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?