Tracy Press

You don’t have to look far this week to contribute to a good cause, as Relay For Life prepares for its annual walkathon.

Thursday is May Day. It’s also what’s been declared "Paint Our Town Purple" day.

It’s a way to bring awareness to the battle against cancer with the color purple. It also draws attention to Tracy’s 24-hour Relay For Life coming up this weekend at Tracy High School’s football field.

For eight years now, Tracy has been galvanized for this cause like none other. We’re not sure why. It’s likely that everyone who reads this knows of someone, a family member or a friend or both, who has fought cancer. Combine that emotional connection with some phenomenal community organizers, and the result is one of the most successful Relay For Life events in the country.

That’s one of the reasons Tracy was also one of 110 cities nationwide chosen to participate in a 30-year American Cancer Society study called CPS-3. It will gather data on men and women from ages 30 to 65 who have no personal history of cancer, and its aim is to help researchers identify the lifestyle, environmental and genetic factors that cause or prevent cancer.

Past cancer society studies dating back to the 1950s demonstrated the link between cigarette smoking and lung cancer and also contributed to the understanding of obesity, diet, physical activity, hormone use, air pollution and other exposures in relation to cancer and other diseases.

This promises to be a landmark study as well, says Sue Mudd, longtime cancer activist and chair of the local study effort. She plans to enroll people at the relay on Saturday and Sunday at a tent set up near the entrance. And she’s not worried
about finding locals willing to make a long-term commitment, which includes blood samples and surveys. "Relayers," as she said, "are committed people. They’re willing to do whatever they can to fight this disease."

Meanwhile, downtown business owners like Ken Cefalo and Irene Sundberg are hanging purple lights in their windows to show their support for the cancer-fighting cause. And residents are being encouraged to cover their lawns and homes with purple.

It’s not often everyone can find a cause for which to come together. Relay For Life is a notable exception.

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written by Jon Mendelson , April 30, 2008

By the way, the Press has its own team at the event, and if you'd like to help us fight cancer (and meet our fundraising goal) go to the Relay For Life Web site to make a donation.
Paste this baby in your browser and go straight to the site:
http://relay.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RelayForLifeCaliforniaDivision?fr_id=5305&pg=entry&JServSessionIdr007=grbgmfwhg1.app312a

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written by amy , May 02, 2008

I question the reason Tracy was chosen, especially with Site 300 close-by. It could interfere with the studies?

"That’s one of the reasons Tracy was also one of 110 cities nationwide chosen to participate in a 30-year American Cancer Society study called CPS-3."

It will be interesting to read the results.

Thanks for the information, Jon, it is a wonderful cause.