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Relay For Life had a successful comeback in Jessamine County after a local family brought it back to honor their son and other local cancer survivors. 

Becky Moore Ogden got the idea to hold a Relay For Life event a few months after her son, Trevor, was diagnosed with lung cancer. 

Trevor has been in treatment since, and although he’s still fighting, Becky said he’s living his life and doing great. 

This year’s Relay For Life is the first one in about five years, and Ogden recently announced that the event raised $15,318.85, less than $5,000 away from their goal. 

The donations will go to the American Cancer Society to fund their resources for cancer survivors, such as housing for those traveling for treatment, transportation, and cancer research.

“We were really pleased with the day and what we were able to raise. We haven’t closed it out just yet so we are still expecting donations. We are expecting some more donations before we close out, but hopefully we reach our goal,” Ogden said.

The website to donate is still up and will be until Dec. 10. Those interested can do that here: 

https://secure.acsevents.org/site/TR?fr_id=106788&pg=entry&fbclid=IwAR1prZPADH62pdkW6zyzXEWBDYuazUaXbawWlym5iWeWYf_9vns_-XzKkoQ

Overall, Ogden said the day of the event was a “really good day.”

“We did the Cruisin’ for Cancer Car Show at the beginning of the day. That turned out great. 45 cars that showed up for that. That raised a good chunk of our money for the day.” Ogden said. “The survivor dinner that was at 4 p.m. that day turned out wonderful. I think everyone that participated was just so grateful to us for doing it, for hosting and having it. A lot of them were glad to see it back in Jessamine County, they said, so that was definitely a great part of it too. Then we moved down to the track and started the relay with the survivor lap and the caregiver lap and it turned out to be a great day.” 

The group didn’t stay the whole night- as not all of the 14 signed-up teams showed up. Ogden hopes more people can come to enjoy the event next year, but “What we did, what we accomplished for the day was great. We were all very pleased with what we were able to do, and I know for a fact that what we did here in Jessamine County has served as inspiration to other counties.”  

According to the American Cancer Society Representative in Kentucky, she has been using Jessamine County as an inspiration to counties that have also had years without a Relay For Life event. 

Woodford County is looking to start their event back up next year. 

“I think that’s a huge accomplishment in itself,” Ogden said.

Ogden said herself that she and the event’s other organizers want to see this event return annually. 

“I’m already thinking of a couple fundraiser events along the way so we just don’t depend on the one day event. But I’m not sure if I’m gonna be able to head the committee again next year, but we do intend to see it continue to be an annual event,” she said.