Editor’s Note: As a lead-up to this weekend’s Chenango County Relay for Life (July 16-17 at the Chenango County Fairgrounds), we’ve asked several participants to share their personal stories with Evening Sun readers. This is Why I Relay ...

Christine Johnson

Captain – Relay Pacers Relay Team

I Relay because in 1999 - 2000, I had a girlfriend that I watched trying to fight her cancer. She had 3 very small children, whom she loved very much. One minute she was fine, and the next she was fighting.

She fought for a year and lost her life April of 2000.

I did all that I could; I cooked things for them, raised money and took them groceries. I raised money and went Christmas shopping for them. We did a benefit; nothing ever seemed to be enough.

I had 2 other people in my life before her - a close neighbor, and an Aunt, but she was the first one I really saw what she went through, and it was a terrible thing. It is something you can’t explain.

Since her, I have seen many others including a girlfriend’s mother, and her uncle, a girlfriend’s father, a friend’s son, co-workers, other distant family members and other town members that have passed. I now have a brother-in-law, and my girlfriend’s niece that are fighting, until this terrible thing takes them from us. It is just endless.