PINK HEALS — Loice Cianciolo of Medina signs the Ida Mildred, which is the pink fire truck for Pink Heals Memphis/Mid-South. Cianciolo, who was born and raised in Greenfield, has been going through treatments for breast cancer. The group of firefighters | | |
By MARY JEAN HALL
Special to The Press
GREENFIELD — Last minute changes couldn’t stop the Greenfield citizens from coming out to support the Relay for Life Friday night downtown, where they raised $22,279.
The recent thunderstorms left the Greenfield Football Field, the usual location for the Relay for Life- Southwest, severely soaked. Too soaked, in fact, to handle the event.
The Relay Committee Team voted just the night before to have the event downtown.
“The football field was too wet,” Elizabeth Gurley, Community Representative of the American Cancer Society, said. “Based on a vote from the teams, we voted to move it downtown.”
Gurley mentioned that the big move couldn’t have happened without the support from those in the community.
“A big thanks goes to Bob and Ray Ann Dudley for orchestrating the move to downtown, and thanks to the City of Greenfield for their cooperation,” Gurley continued.
It’s uncertain whether the relay will still be held downtown next year.
“It’ll be a group decision,” Ray Ann Dudley said. “We will meet after this year and everybody will put in their opinion as to how they think it went.”
The move didn’t stop the Parker Relay Team from showing up for their first year of participating. Parker makes air conditioning and refrigeration parts in Greenfield.
“We had lunches at work one day a week, and it was kind of easy to raise money,” Gerri Maclin, member of the Parker Relay Team, said.
Pink Heals, which is based out of Memphis, also made the journey to show support for all of the women in the area who have survived or are currently surviving the battle with cancer.
The teams started out with just over $14,000 raised at the beginning of the event. By the end of the night, $22,279 was raised. Although the figure didn’t meet the $30,000 goal, Dudley said that there were still funds that haven’t been added yet, such as ad money.
This year’s Honorary Survivor Chair was Amy Davidson. Davidson’s story started in 1991 when she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Despite overcoming cancer and having a child, she was diagnosed with it again three years later.
She had yet another surgery, but still that wasn’t the end of the fight.
During a 2009 visit to have some moles removed by the doctor, she learned that she had malignant melanoma.
“I almost feel guilty about being considered a cancer survivor because I’ve never had the chemo or the radiation or the other treatments that most of you have had,” Davidson said to the crowd.” “But the fact is that I am a cancer survivor.”
Davidson believes that the melanoma stemmed from her tanning habits as a young adult. She got involved with Relay because of family members and coworkers in Trenton that had cancer at the time. She then joined the First Baptist Relay Team, and later Jimmy’s Pals. Jimmy’s Pals is the relay team that started in honor of Jimmy Croom, who passed away in 2009 after battling cancer.
“Jimmy was an inspiration to me, and he is one of the reasons that I relay today,” Davidson continued.
As of Friday’s relay, Davidson has been four years cancer-free.
Lots of entertainment with local ties came out to perform for the relay participants, including Jacob Dethloff of D.I.M.E., which stands for Dance Is My Escape. Dethloff, who is from Greenfield, performed with two other young men: Terrence Ball and Jordan Dudley, who are both from Bradford. The crew performed several dance routines. According to Dethloff he organized D.I.M.E. back in March. Just three months later the group has grown to 15 members. The way it works is simple he said.
“With the group, if they feel like dancing they just call up,” Dethloff said.
Two bands with local ties performed as well. Low Electric Revival and Ezell lit up the stage for the relay participants. Eric Brewer, a Sharon resident, performed with both groups.
Low Electric Revival featured Brewer as the lead singer, with Suzanne Peckham performing as a guest singer for multiple songs. The band also featured Keegan Paluso as the drummer, Kyle Stout as the lead guitarist and Cory Turner as the bassist.
Later in the night, Ezell took the stage. The band, which is named after lead singer Spencer Ezell’s last name, started back in 2010 with Ezell and Brewer.
Ezell, who is originally from Greenfield, now resides in Nashville. The band also consists of drummer Brandon Rice, lead guitarist Stacy Stewart and keyboard player Gary John Higgins. Brewer plays the rhythm guitar and is the background vocalist.
The next Relay for Life in Weakley County is for the West division, which will take place in Martin this Friday, June 14 at 6 p.m. at the UT Martin football field parking lot.
(Published in The Press on 6.11.13)
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