Brighton’s Relay For Life This Weekend

Before her mom was diagnosed with cancer in 2000, Laura Zizka-Wright was content to cheer a cause from the sideline.

“I was always happy to write checks for people who did charitable walks,” Zizka-Wright, 39, said. “It wasn’t until my mother had cancer that becoming part of something was more important than writing the checks.”

Since then, Zizka-Wright has jumped into the fight against cancer through Relay For Life, the 24-hour walk-a-thon that helps to raise money to help the American Cancer Society prevent, treat and research cures for cancer.

This weekend is the 19th annual Brighton’s Relay For Life, begin at 9 a.m. today and ending at 9 a.m. Sunday, at Parker Middle School in Howell, located at 400 Wright Road.

More than 40 teams will be walking the track at Parker for 24 hours. Started in 1985, organizers said the continuous walking represents cancer never sleeping, so teams are asked to have at least one representative on the track at all times during the event.

In the months leading up to the relay, teams raised about $70,000, with more expected to come this weekend. That’s because Brighton has a reputation for giving generously to Relay For Life, organizers said.

“If there’s one thing this community knows how to do, it’s fundraise. They fundraise very well. They have higher team averages than any of my other events,” said 31-year-old Jennifer Acker, 31, Brighton’s community representative to the American Cancer Society. “And I do all of the events in Livingston County.”

Money is put mostly toward patient services, including the Hope Lodges, which provide shelter for patients free of charge who seek treatment far from home.

Anybody is welcome to show up at the relay at no cost. Activities will include yoga, jazzercise, live music, karaoke and scavenger hunts.

However, the main focus of the 24 hours is to reflect and to give people who have been touched by cancer a large support group to lean on. Luminarias, paper bags with a candle inside representing a cancer victim, will be lit at dusk on Saturday as a quiet time for participants to remember those who lost their battle with cancer.

“It’s the calm, the emotion, the memories, there’s a lot wrapped into that 40 minutes of the night,” Zizka-Wright said, a team captain and the chair for the Luminaria committee. “The whole world stops, and we all just really think about why we’re there.”

For more information, check out Brighton’s Relay for Life site.