Relay for Life’s weekend launch
IT WAS the death of a close friend that started Brittany Althaus on a mission.
This year’s chairperson of the Toowoomba Relay for Life, Mrs Althaus is hoping to bring people together to honour those lost to, and still fighting, cancer.
“My good friend, Jake, lost his battle with cancer a few years ago when he was 22,” she said.
“We went from being at school together, with not a care in the world, to hospital visits and then a funeral - it devastated us.
“He was the face of the relay a few years ago, and my now husband got me to come along, and that is how I first got started with the event.”
The event is a community fundraising challenge raising vital funds for cancer patients through the completion of an overnight relay.
This year’s event will be held at Frogs Hollow at Queens Park on May 18-19. The team is hoping to raise $125,000 to donate to Cancer Council Queensland.
“The relay is amazing, you don’t feel alone any more,” Ms Althaus said.
“When you’re up at the hospital, watching someone get chemotherapy, it feels as if that room is the only thing that exists. “But at the relay everyone has a story, and everyone has someone they’re fighting for it gives you hope.”
Unfortunately, Mrs Althaus’ grandfather and grandmother are also battling the illness.
“That’s the other thing I love about relay, it’s all about the awareness,” she said.
“Eat healthy, exercise, if you’re not feeling right about something, such as a mole, see a doctor.”
The committee will hold the launch of the relay this Sunday at 10-4pm outside Joyce Mayne.
More than 400 people have already registered, you can too at https://bit.ly/2Hi4gZ5.