POWAY – Daughter. Niece. Inspiration. Friend.
These are the words members of Team Brittney and Team Angel will hold close as they take steps to honor Brittney Wolfe during the Poway Relay for Life.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
T'Ann Wolfe looked at a photo of her daughter Brittney, which was taken when she was 15 and battling cancer. Brittney died in 2004, when she was 16. Relay for Life on April 22 will raise money and awareness for cancer research.
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The Wolfe family learned that there was a tumor growing in and around Brittney's vertebrae on Mother's Day 2001. After prolonged surgery, two months of radiation and nine weeks of chemotherapy, it appeared that the disease was gone.
However, doctors were unable to remove all of the tumor and the cancer returned. Brittney died Sept. 5, 2004. She was 16.
T'Ann Wolfe is chairman of this year's relay and captain of Team Brittney.
“I can't let my daughter die without now stepping up,” Wolfe said. “When you go through something like this, you just want to make it better for somebody else.”
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What: Relay for Life
When: 10 a.m. April 22 to 10 a.m. April 23
Where: Lake Poway Recreation Area, 14644 Lake Poway Road
Cost: $100 per team; free for cancer survivors
Information: (619) 682-7479 or www.acsevents.org/relay/ca/poway
What: Poway Spring Festival
When: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 23
Where: Midland Road, between Poway Road and Hilleary Place
Cost: Free
Information: (858) 748-0016
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The 24-hour campout and team relay is being sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the Poway Chamber of Commerce. The event, which raises money for the society's education, advocacy and research efforts, is from 10 a.m. April 22 to 10 a.m. April 23 at the Lake Poway Recreation Area. It will include entertainment, food, music and children's activities.
The chamber's annual spring festival follows, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. April 23 on Midland Road between Poway Road and Hilleary Place.
So far, Wolfe and her teammates have raised more than $10,OOO. The American Cancer Society has set a goal of $30,000.
Poway High School senior Andrea Hamilton raised $200 for Team Angel, which she formed in honor of Brittney. The girls had been friends since the fourth grade.
“I just know that she would want to help people that were in her same situation so that they can have a life,” said Andrea, 18. “I know that she'd be really proud of everyone that does it for her.”
Wolfe's sister-in-law, Michelle Ramsey, will walk with Team Brittney. Ramsey said she considered Brittney her hero.
“She taught my family and myself to live every day to the fullest, and she did it,” Ramsey said. “Even in the middle of her cancer, she had tutors at home. She got her driver's license.”
Although doctors advised Brittney to stay out of the sun because of the medications she was taking, Wolfe recalled how she purchased bathing suits online to wear around the house during the summer.
“Even at the end, she had her spunk and her spirit,” Ramsey said.
Ramsey will also walk in memory of her friend and co-worker, Lisa Ledbetter, who died from rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast-growing, highly malignant tumor typically found in children.
“I lost Brittney at 16; I lost a girlfriend at 34,” Ramsey said. “Someday I want to say I know somebody who has cancer and beat it.”
Cancer survivors are invited to participate in a survivor lap at 10 a.m. April 22.
At 9 p.m., luminarias decorated with the names of cancer survivors and those lost to the disease will be placed around the track to light the way for those walking and running through the night.
Toni Kraft, the chamber's president and chief executive officer, said this year's spring festival will focus on healthful lifestyles. Cancer resources, health screenings and nutrition information will be provided.
“I was really appreciative that the American Cancer Society thought of us asbeing a good resource and a good partner for them,” Kraft said. “Everybody is touched by cancer in some way.”
Team registration forms and information are available by calling (619) 682-7479 or at www.acsevents.org/relay/ca/poway.
