May 2009 Archives

His vision faltered, and dots like little bugs filled his sight. Despite his warm clothes, the weather was getting to him. After 11 hours, the hypothermia had set in. But Dr. Gordy Klatt refused to give up. A ten-minute break and some hot chicken noodle soup from a good friend was all he needed to refresh his body and his spirit.

He journeyed on for another 13 hours walking and running around the University of Puget Sound's track in Tacoma, Wash. It was 25 years ago when Dr. Klatt decided he could make a difference and had a vision that kick started the largest fundraiser in the world, the American Cancer Society Relay For Life.

 As Dr. Klatt recounted his experience to Relay fanatics he explained what happened in May of 1985 when he ran and walked around a track for 24 hours to raise funds for the American Cancer Society. He called it the City of Destiny Classic 24-Hour Run Against Cancer. Dr. Klatt was already an avid runner and decided to combine both his love of running and his yearning to help raise money for the fight against cancer. In that one night he traveled more than 83 miles and raised $27,000.

"It's really kind of surreal to me to see several hundred people in this room who live and breathe an event that started in Tacoma, Wash., by one guy who just wanted to raise some money," Dr. Klatt says to fellow Relay participants as recorded by video available on www.sharinghope.tv. "I was trying to make a statement, and that's really all I wanted to do."

For Dr. Klatt, cancer infected every part of his life. He lost a fellow classmate at the age of 14 to cancer and then later dealt with the death of two grandparents to the same disease. As a colorectal surgeon, many of his patients were also diagnosed with cancer.

With his 24-Hour Run Against Cancer, Dr. Klatt had an opportunity to make a difference and show others that they could, too. Family, friends and his patients joined him on the track paying $25 to run or walk with him for 30 minutes. More than 300 people came out that first year.

"It is about those specific people in our lives who have battled cancer," Dr. Klatt says about Relay For Life. "It is about ensuring that others that we care for, our friends and our loved ones who we don't want to get this disease. And we want to prevent it and do away with this disease. That's what this is about."

And people throughout Tacoma related to Dr. Klatt. He and a small committee turned this one-man run into a relay event for 1986. That year, 19 teams joined Dr. Klatt on his mission to fight back against cancer. They raised $33,000 and then began to spread their event. People of Washington believed that they, too, could create an event like Tacoma's.

"Something was happening," Dr. Klatt says about the growth of Relay. "What we now know is Relay For Life meets the universal human need to fight back against a disease that takes so much from so many people."

If Dr. Klatt is considered the father of Relay, then its mother is Patt Flynn. Together they trained people across the nation on how to create a successful Relay. "We became Johnny Appleseeds, planting seeds throughout the country," Dr. Klatt says.

And a success it certainly is. Relay has become the largest non-profit fundraiser in the world by earning more than $3.3 billion for the American Cancer Society.

"It's a community event that allows everyone to celebrate survivorship, remember those that we have lost to cancer and fight back against the disease," says Allison Kraft. Kraft is the staff partner for the Relay For Life of Springfield which will take place next Friday, May 15 at the track at Hillcrest High School. The festivities begin at 7 p.m. and last until 9 a.m. on Saturday.

Visit www.relayforlife.org for more information about a Relay near you!

To see Dr. Klatt speak courtesy of user HowWeHelpYou, check out http://www.sharinghope.tv/video/2050694

by Leah Almeling