CHENANGO COUNTY – Relay for Life season in Chenango County officially began Tuesday at a kickoff event, reminding everyone that fundraising for the event is a year round event.

Team captains and Relay Committee members gathered at Morrisville State’s Norwich Campus Tuesday night and began discussing the 2009 Relay for Life. “We’re all here for different reasons,” said committee member Deb Myers. “Cancer has touched all of us in different ways, but we’re all a team and we’re here to celebrate, remember, and fight back.”

Dr. Michael Fallon, a radiation oncologist at Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, was the guest speaker for the night. Fallon discussed the progress that has been made in cancer research and treatment in just the last 15 years. Fallon explained that when he began his residency, some forms of cancer, like breast or prostate cancer, were diagnosed when someone felt a lump or mass. “Now we rarely see that,” Fallon said. “Now, by screening the population, you can pick up those cancers in the early stages before you can feel them.”