When you are faced with an obstacle that you have no idea how to get around, when you can’t conceive of where to begin, how to move it, how to get over it or underneath it, what do you do? Dr Martin Luther King stared the vast divide of racism in America straight in the face, and saw no way of making a difference. He was one man, fighting a war against millions. He had one vision, up against massive opposition and deep-rooted beliefs that he would have to resist. In the midst of his fear and hopelessness, when standing down was not an option, he saw the one thing that he could do…He could walk.

Cancer is a daunting word and a painful disease, as most people on this earth can identify with it, either themselves or through a friend or relative who have had to fight against it. Getting the diagnosis is one of the most feared and dreaded fates known to human beings in our lifetime, as its grip does not discriminate amongst race, gender or social position. Finding the strength to fight it takes as much mental tenacity as it would to survive a prison camp experience, where the unknown date with death is a day-by-day apparition. To those who have survived it, their choice to fight is clear and persistent, and a whole new level of “living” is found. For those who have not gotten “it”, it may be hard to conceive of the mindset and the drive that are born out of this choice and the will to live.

Fitness for the fight

Most of us know the many benefits of physical activity by now: improved cardiovascular endurance, lower blood pressure, reduced depression and anxiety, improved self-esteem and body image, to name a few. But despite these benefits, working out or going for a brisk walk is often the last thing people coping with cancer want to do. The initial shock of the diagnosis, in addition to coping with chemotherapy, radiation, or surgery, can shatter cancer patients’ sense of control over their own bodies. Further down the road, they face more challenges in getting regular exercise: debilitating fatigue can last up to five years after treatment; and psychological barriers, including stress and depression, can be overwhelming. For someone facing cancer, improving fitness could be the answer to getting your life back.

Recruiting “booster groups” is a great way to enrol cancer patients who have completed their main treatment but may be on long-term therapy, such as hormone supplements, into exercise groups. This has tremendous benefits to the participants in many ways such as sensitising survivors to having control over their bodies again, preventing or slowing osteoporosis which is commonly seen in cancer survivors on long-term hormone therapy; and gaining confidence in a primarily mental battle. Meeting in a group is also important for social support and the interaction of hearing how other people are coping, as they encourage each other to exert themselves a little bit more while doing the exercises, and in fighting altogether. The prescribed change of lifestyle, which most survivors are charged with, can be made easier by journeying with others.

Fitness has a higher purpose

If you are reading this and are blessed with a clean bill of health, you may ask yourself why it is that it is so hard for you to honour your fitness as a mark of respect for your good health. When you hear your own excuses to not be good to your body, and then consider how it occurs for someone who has higher odds against them, who are exercising to identify their health, it really does seem shallow.

The paradox is this, with the newfound will to live; does the quality of living improve? Are survivors privy to a new level of awareness, energy and power that they would not have been aware of, had they not had to fight for life? How can we, as pre-supposed survivors of this life, begin to understand what it is like to be given a theoretical timeline? And is a timeline purely hypothetical anyway? Who knows? But it does lay truth to one thing…. A change of perspective does go a long way, as proven by the many cancer survivors who attend the annual Jamaica Cancer Society Relay for Life benefit event.

Relay For Life – Finding Strength In Numbers

The Relay for Life is an annual 24-hour event, which will take place this Saturday June 26th into Sunday June 27th, 2010. The Relay For Life is an overnight team event that increases awareness of cancer in the community and raises much-needed funds to fight the disease. At Relay For Life, teams of friends, neighbours, families, and co-workers commit to keeping at least one member walking the track at all times-because cancer never sleeps. Lending support to cancer survivors can and does mean the world of difference to the survivor and ultimately to the end of the disease altogether. When you feel the support of other human beings, and people honouring the fight to live, not only does it promote funding for research to tackle the disease on the medical front, but also of equal importance, through the loyalty, it fortifies the purpose and strength of mind for the ones who choose to fight.

The experience of gathering together with other survivors is powerful and moving, as is the opening lap. The Survivors Lap traditionally opens Relay For Life in which all cancer survivors are honorary guests. Their strength and courage help the community see that cancer survivorship is real and that we are making progress in the battle against cancer.

The Luminaria Ceremony is a very moving moment of silence where everyone gathers around to remember those lost to cancer, support those fighting cancer, and rejoice with those who have fought the disease and won. For a contribution to the Jamaica Cancer Society, visit www.jamaicacancersociety.org or call 927-4265 to find out more about how you can lend your support.

Inspiration for the cause

One thing can be taken from the walking initiative of the Jamaica Cancer Society’s event, to support the fight against cancer. When we as a human race are faced with a problem that we don’t know the answer to, and standing down is not an option, we pull together and do the one thing that we know that we can do to make a difference, and we walk as one, in Health and Hope.