Relay For Life puts up a fight

After changing her life to help her mother successfully battle cancer, Rita Jean Caban had her own scare this year.

Carol Machovec survived cancer three times and watched a dear friend die of the disease.

Nancy Smith’s mother and brother died of cancer.

Becky Check lost her grandfather to cancer.

Tobi Smith lost both of her grandfathers to cancer.

Henry Wade is an 11-year survivor of prostate cancer.

Bret Roberts is a survivor.

Each of these Maricopans has shown a lot of fight against a disease that remains one of the most daunting and deadly. They are expanding the battle by being among scores of participants in the annual Maricopa Relay For Life.

This year’s Relay For Life, one of more than 5,200 in 20 countries, starts April 25 at 6 p.m. and ends April 26 at 6 a.m. The event is at Copper Sky Regional Park, 44345 W. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

The relay is a fund-raiser for the American Cancer Society and a way for everyone affected by cancer to help fund the hunt for a cure.

The Maricopa relay has more than 40 teams participating. Team members trade off walking through the night. Some teams will walk around the 5-acre lake while others will confine their walk to the area around the amphitheater.

The teams have a very active if friendly rivalry in gathering donations to the cause. Teams sport names like the Caped Cure-saders, the Tumornators and Bring It On. Some teams have many members, others only a couple. Some team captains are involved for the first time this year. Some have participated since the first Maricopa Relay For Life in 2011.

Machovec had her bouts of cancer, but her friend Betty’s experience had a different kind of power. Betty seemed to have conquered breast cancer, but it came back strong. Machovec went from visiting every day to becoming a caretaker while Betty went under hospice care and eventually passed away.

“I knew I needed to do this for her,” says Machovec, a member of the Copa Skywalkers team.

Caban quit her job and moved west to take care of her mother when she received a cancer diagnosis. That was in 2004. Her mother now lives in Jericho ministering to Muslim women in the refugee camp.

“She’s doing just great,” Caban said.

Caban came to the Maricopa Relay For Life two years ago. This year, as she prepared her team for the next event, she had to have a biopsy to determine if her own health issues were cancer. To the relief of many, the diagnosis was not cancer.

Wade, who had his cancer diagnosis at age 49, also has a clean bill of health. He got involved with the relay the first year. This year, he is the lead of the Survivor’s Dinner. Free to cancer survivors and their caregivers, the dinner is 6 p.m. on April 10 at Harrah’s Ak-Chin.