SLIDE SHOW: Relay for Life

KT photo by Shawn Knapp

June 21, 2008 10:59 am

— The first day of the 2008 Howard County Relay for Life set to the playing of "Amazing Grace" on the bag pipes by Wilbur Lewis.
Slide Show: Click here to see a slide show



Howard County’s Relay for Life kicks off this afternoon at Kokomo High School’s Walter Cross Field with the opening lap of the 400-meter track.
From start to finish, the American Cancer Society event is 24 hours of raising funds and awareness to fight cancer, remembering those who lost their battle with the disease and celebrating those who have fought the battle and survived.
Throughout the day and night, teams are asked to always keep at least one member on the track.
For those who aren’t walking, event officials have activities planned to keep them awake and entertained. Last year, more than 4,000 people participated in Relay for Life.
Finding things to keep thousands of people active is a big job for anyone, let alone a 10-year-old girl.
Yet, Kori Brown, who recently completed fourth grade at Maconaquah Elementary School, is the entertainment chair for this year’s event.
She fully understands her job.
“To make sure that for the full 24 hours there is something going on,” Kori explained.
And she’s got plenty of things on tap to keep people going.
“I have the Celebrity ‘Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader’ contest, a tug-of-war between the Kokomo Fire and Police departments. The TechnoKats are going to be there in the middle of the night,” she continued. “They’ll have a T-shirt cannon and will shoot T-shirts out. And, they’re running a dodgeball tournament.”
She’s lined up an Elvis impersonator and Dance Elite will perform. Chase Cottle, a 12-year-old who lives in Howard County, is a young magician who will appear. She also had a friend take care of music and four bands are scheduled to perform.
“I tried to get kids involved, too,” Kori said.
For the “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth-Grader” contest, she’s rounded up a group of area youth — Trevor Brown, Maconaquah, Alex Downing, Eastern, Zach Shahan, Western, and Sycamore’s Nathan Fox and Tanna Hylen to form the panel. Mayor Greg Goodnight will be the celebrity and anyone who donates that day will have the opportunity to match wits with the fifth-graders.
Kori’s inspiration to help comes from those she sees during her monthly visit to Clarian Pediatric Center for Cancer and Blood Diseases at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis. Suffering from a blood disorder, she goes once every 28 days for treatments that last six to nine hours at a time.
“My friend had cancer and a person I know [Jan Buechler] died of cancer,” Kori said.
Her mother, Heather Cowan, said Kori was at Riley for her first treatment when she met Alyssa Lewandowski, a Noblesville girl who was there being treated for leukemia.
She recognized Alyssa’s mother from working at Delphi and the two girls became close over time.
“It got to the point where they wouldn’t have treatments without the other one being there,” Cowan said. “Over spring break, they spent time together.”
Kori got involved in Relay for Life after one of those treatment days with Alyssa, who is now in remission but still must go to Riley once every six months.
“Alyssa had a really bad day and we were on our way home. Kori was listening to WWKI and Tammy Lively was reading a commercial that said ‘do you know someone with cancer and want to help?’” her mother recalled. “Kori looked up and said ‘that’s what I want to do. I want to help find a cure.’”
Kori was in first grade at the time and this will be her fourth relay. In that time, she has raised more than $27,000.
As of Tuesday, “I believe I’ve raised $9,000 and my goal is $10,000,” she said.
In March, she conducted an auction at Kokomo Booster Club that raised $6,000.
“The businessmen are amazing with her and so generous,” her mother said. “They come and talk to her. They ask her what she’d like and walk down the aisles with her as she picks things out.”
Robin Muller, owner of Master Creations Jewelry, made a necklace for the auction that Kori designed.
“Jamie’s Soda Fountain has worked for months, selling cookbooks, candy bars and the feet that go in windows for the relay,” Cowan said. “[Owner Jim Whited] walks the survivor’s lap and won’t walk unless she goes with him.”
Cowan noted that some of the activities — the Luminaria and Celebrate, Remember, Fight Back ceremonies — are required by the American Cancer Society.
There will also be plenty of opportunities for good, plain fun.
The Miss-ter Relay competition is in its second year.
“It’s where one guy from each team dresses up as a girl and asks people for money and then puts it in his purse,” Kori said. “The winner is whoever collects the most money. He gets an award and flowers.
“We’ll have some different kinds of laps, too. We’ll have hard-boiled egg laps where you have to carry it on a spoon without using your hands. People will have to do some different things with it that way, like walk backwards or skip.”
Boiling eggs is one of the last things Kori has to do in preparation.
And there is one thing she’s really looking forward to about this year’s relay.
“I think I’ll get a golf cart this year,” she beamed. “That will be awesome.”
And when the relay wraps up, she’ll have about a week to breathe before starting on her next project — hand-designed Christmas cards.
“Alyssa and I are doing Christmas cards for the Impact Foundation,” Kori said. “I have 10 kids at my hospital who are designing cards.”
Each box will have 12 different cards, all designed by children.
The Impact Foundation is the baby of former Colts linebacker Gary Brackett. It provides baskets that go directly to families of cancer patients at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital, part of the St. Vincent Hospital organization.
“The baskets have DVDs, hats. It’s a box of stuff with things for them to do and distract them while they’re at the hospital,” Heather explained.
Kori is working with Kokomo’s Humphrey Printing to make the cards while the Impact Foundation is taking care of distribution. Kori will also work with local businesses to sell the cards locally.
John Dempsey may be contacted at (765) 854-6739 or by e-mail at john.dempsey@kokomotribune.com

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