ARLINGTON – Although it’s tempting to sum up this year’s Arlington Relay For Life as a series of numbers – 323 individuals on 44 teams who have raised $98,432.92 and counting – for father Mitch Latta, the relay means a longer life for his 2-year-old son, Bentley.
Latta helped kick off the relay’s abridged 12-hour running time June 20 by recounting how he first received the diagnosis of his son’s retinal blastoma from a phone call with his wife last September. He recalled how helpless he felt, even as he ran through all his options and considered what steps he would need to take next, from MRI scans to treatment.
By the time doctors caught Bentley’s cancer, it was already at Stage 4, with tumors at least an inch in diameter.
“There were so many tumors that they couldn’t count them all,” Latta said. “We ultimately opted to remove his entire eye, which was scary enough, but then, we had to play the waiting game, to see if the cancer had spread to his brain.”
To this day, Latta chokes up with tears of gratitude when he hears the words “cancer free,” although he also admitted to feeling a touch of survivor’s guilt.
“When we went to the hospital, we saw the other children there, and our hearts just broke,” Latta said. “We got lucky, so we asked ourselves how we could give back. That’s why we tell our story, to help raise awareness. How do you fight something like cancer, that doesn’t care about you? You fight back with every dollar you all have helped raise.”
And they raised a lot. The top fundraisers were D’Andrea Olsen of Arlington, individually with $4,085, and the “Relay Rascals” as a team, with $8,699.
Although it’s up in the air whether the Arlington relay will be 12 hours again next year, publicity chairwoman Terri Bookey cited its advantages.
“It made it much easier on the committee and participants, not only to set up and clean up, but also to have at least one person per team on the track at all times,” Bookey said. “I felt all the changes to relay this year were positive. Many shared that they especially liked not having a limit on the number of members per team.”
The limit used to be 15, which resulted in many groups having to set up second and sometimes even third teams.
“The best part of the day was the Spazmatics Band playing music from the Eighties,” said Bookey, noting that this year’s theme of “Party Like It’s 1985” was in tribute to the start of Relay for Life in Washington 30 years ago. “The other highlight was the closing ceremony, which was a pep rally in the middle of the field, topped off with a fireworks show.”
Bookey added the Arlington Relay For Life committee is always looking for new members and ideas.
“If someone doesn’t feel like they can commit to a big role, there are many smaller tasks that go along with planning this event,” Bookey said.
Just outside the John C. Larson Stadium at Arlington High School, which again hosted the event, Cascade Valley Hospital supervised the mammogram van, which saw 15 women that Saturday.
“Statistically, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime,” said Jennifer Egger, community relations coordinator for the hospital. “Early detection saves lives, and we encourage all women to talk to their health care providers about appropriate screenings.”
