By Marty Mayfield<\/p>\n
KRTN Multi-Media<\/p>\n
Raton Relay for Life Chair Elizabeth Tafoya told the crowd Saturday that she would be stepping down as team leader for the Colfax County \u00a0Relay for Life to move up and take on overseeing or helping to organize relays in Arizona and New Mexico.<\/p>\n
In her remarks Saturday she went on to tell the survivors who attended that they were not alone and that they would be there all the way. She also noted that there had been questions about where the money raised by the local teams went. Tafoya noted that they stay locally in the communities of Colfax County to help with travel and other expenses for cancer patients.<\/p>\n
One thing that was noticeable at this year’s relay was the small crowd. Mercy Swanson who has been with the event since its inception noted that it has dwindled in numbers for a long time and that it was time to look at different ways to organize the event. Liz Tafoya noted that the new younger leadership for the event would strive to bring in new blood, to encourage younger participants and groups to become involved in the event such as the Young Marines who participated this year in a more extensive role than just presenting the colors as they have done in past years. They were joined by the Colfax County Fair Queens and Princess who also joined relay this year. She feels that they need to reach the younger survivors as well as different organizations to get involved such as the Raton Police Department who also joined the event as a team this year.<\/p>\n
18-year old Tatiana Medina, a cancer survivor, who has recently moved to Raton sang a song about living with cancer. Another young survivor who attended is only 26. Raven Anderson, American Cancer Society staff partner, noted the demographics show that the number of individuals with cancer in Colfax County is about equal male to female and surprisingly runs a wide range of ages from 18 to over 80 as 82 year old Adelita Craig noted in her remarks that she is battling metastatic breast cancer.<\/p>\n
Eric Armstrong in his remarks told the crowd that support is very important to the battle and that he is so thankful for the friends that were there during his battle with cancer. Gladly, but unfortunately, he returned that favor for Roy Pilmore who has survived throat cancer. Armstrong talked about a small dog that they rescued that will go to his mother who now lives in a senior living facility. The story was how Little Bit was lost and survived and was found 10 days later about five miles away from the Armstrong farm in Folsom. He went on to tell how giving is so important to the process and not expecting anything in return.<\/p>\n