HUNTINGTON -- There are many moments during the American Cancer Society Relay for Life events which capture the pure joy for life.
But none are more touching than the survivor lap. It's the opening lap during Relay for Life, in which cancer survivors wearing tags that identify how long they've lived past their initial diagnosis take the first lap around the track.
As they finish, they ring a bell and often walk into the arms of loved ones, who are waiting to give a hug that may not have come without advances in cancer research funded by events such as this.
Terri Francis, the community income manager for the local American Cancer Society chapter, is one of those people who celebrate life at each and every Relay for Life because, when she looks out among 1,000-plus survivors, she sees her 25-year-old son, Christopher.
"He shouldn't be here today," Francis said. "But he just graduated with a master's degree in chemistry. Because of the American Cancer Society, he is here today."
The event, held from 7 p.m. Friday night until 7 a.m. this morning at Huntington High School, was expected to raise about $200,000. The money, Francis said, will go toward research, as well as free wigs and prosthetics and advocacy and support.
Nearly 3,000 registered as survivors or participants, but Francis said they usually have many more who come and walk to silently join the mission to beat cancer altogether.
Until that time comes, victims and survivors continue to be the inspiration and motivation to make Relay for Life events successful. And heroes tend to come in all shapes and sizes when it comes to cancer.
Chloe Hightower wasn't even 2 years old when her parents found out that the lingering cough wasn't a virus but a tumor above her lung. Hightower went through two rounds of chemotherapy, but it wasn't working. Doctors removed the tumor, and Hightower went through two more rounds of chemo.
"I'd rather it have been me," Shelly Hightower said. "But (my daughter) was a trooper through it all."
She and her husband, Jamie, have five other children, and they all came out to support the American Cancer Society and show the world that cancer touches everyone.
"This is celebrating that she made it," Shelly Hightower said. "You see daily the ones that don't survive."
Paul Thacker, a member of Sunshine Free Will Baptist Church in Huntington, joined many others from his church to walk in support and memory of those cancer has touched.
"We're walking for a lot of people," he said as he led his grandson Adin Sperry around the track. "There are several in our church. Some are survivors, and there are some who have went on to be with the Lord."
South Point resident Sharon Porter is another survivor, but she's still fighting. Porter was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer in September, just five weeks after giving birth to her first child.
She has undergone 16 rounds of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy, and she's preparing for radiation treatments. This was her first Relay for Life event, and she said it has refueled her emotional tank to walk with hundreds of other survivors, some with 20 years of life past their first diagnosis, and also provided her with hope.
"It's very inspirational," Porter said. "I feel like I could conquer anything, with God's help of course. I rely a lot on prayer and support from family and friends."
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