On track to fund cancer research

Alicia Robinson

On the job, Wendy Koudelka handles all sorts of emergencies as a

senior dispatcher for the Newport Beach Police Department. But for

one weekend a year -- this weekend, in fact -- she leads a different

kind of law enforcement group: the Broad Squad.

It’s a 17-member team of women who work for the Newport police

department, some female family members, and Koudelka’s son Wyatt --

“We call him the only testosterone on the team,” Koudelka said.

They’ll be taking part in the city’s fourth annual Relay For Life,

an overnight event to raise money for cancer research. Participants

walk in shifts, over 24 hours, around a track as a fundraiser, a

celebration of cancer survivors and a remembrance of those who have

died of the disease.

Last year, a police department employee, Gwen Loverink, died of

cancer, so the Broad Squad walked in her honor.

“This year, thankfully, we haven’t lost anyone to cancer, but we

do have one survivor on our team,” Koudelka said.

Her squad will be in good company with other city workers when

they take to the track Friday. They’ll battle out a friendly rivalry

with the City Slickers, a 34-member City Hall employees’ team that

also includes cancer survivors.

One of them is Rukshana Ghorbani, a senior accountant for the city

who had breast cancer.

“I found out on my birthday two years ago, and after doing the

biopsy ... I had to go through chemotherapy and radiation,” she said.

Last year she took part in the Relay For Life for the first time,

and it made her want to come back this year.

“It was awesome. I wish I’d done it earlier,” Ghorbani said.

“There’s such a general feeling of warmth around the whole community.

It brings the community together regardless of race, gender, wealth,

or anything.”

The event has its somber moments -- the first lap is for cancer

survivors, and after dark, people light luminarias to remember those

who have died -- but it also can get raucous.

At a prerelay fundraiser, city employees held a “no talent” show

where the city manager sang a song dressed as Elvis. The Broad Squad

picks a costume theme for the relay; this year they’re the Pink

Ladies, so they’ll be in 1950s gear.

“Our team is known for being the loudest and most obnoxious, but

that’s what you want out there because it’s fun,” Koudelka said.

“Everyone knows the Broad Squad.”

Everyone has a reason for participating, and Koudelka does it for

her family. She walks to remember her mother-in-law, who had breast

cancer, but she also does it for her son.

“He’s only 7, but he needs to know how to help people,” she said.

Newport Beach Mayor Steve Bromberg is a survivor of bladder

cancer; he plans to walk with an old high school friend who was

recently diagnosed with cancer.

“One in three people will get cancer, and people, what they do,

they hear they have cancer or a loved one of a friend has cancer,

and many people think it’s an automatic death sentence,” Bromberg

said. “One of the reasons that we do the relay is to show them that

it’s just not so.”

The Newport Beach Relay For Life begins at 6 p.m. Friday at

Newport Harbor High School, 600 Irvine Ave.