By By JAMES COLLINS / Niles Daily Star
NILES -- Cancer is a far reaching disease that touches nearly everyone in one way or another.
It would have been hard to find anyone at this past weekend's Niles-Buchanan Relay for Life who did not have a story of how the disease had directly effected his or her life.
Hundreds gathered at the Niles High School track in support of the fight against cancer with the purpose of raising awareness and money to help find a cure.
As of Sunday morning, the event had raised more than $123,000. This amount is expected to rise as the relay teams have until Aug. 30 to turn in their final fundraising totals.
More than 600 participants from about 40 teams kicked off the community wide event by walking the track and continuing their fundraising efforts with bake sales, raffles and games.
The Buchanan Cops and Cafe team raised more than $7,000 prior to this weekend's event and were busy continuing their efforts on the track on Saturday.
She said it is amazing to see so many people working so diligently for a common cause.
Fellow teammate Sharon Jackson, who lost her husband to cancer six years ago, knows the pain that can be caused by the disease.
The New Apostolic Church group was well represented in its first year as a relay team with more than 160 walkers stopping in at the event.
With numerous cancer survivors in its congregation, church members thought it was important to rally together and make the fight against cancer a team effort.
The Surgery Cut-ups, a team of 26 Lakeland Hospital employees who work with cancer patients on a daily basis, wanted to show their support outside of their work environment.
Cancer survivor Lisa Rutledge was at the event with a team called Rutledge Warriors, which is made up of family members who have rallied around her in a show of support.
Rutledge, who beat cancer in February 2003, was pleased to see so many people joining together in an effort to rid the world of the disease.