Community shows its charity yet again

We all have the sad stories to tell.

A family member or close friend lost or threatened by cancer. Or

even our own personal triumph over this dreaded and deadly disease.

So it wasn’t surprising, but still heartening, to see members of

the Newport-Mesa community rise in unison last week and take time out

of their schedules to walk in the American Cancer Society’s fourth

annual Relay for Life at Newport Harbor High School in memory of or

in solidarity with those loved ones and survivors.

Leading up to the relay, we were privy to the stories of

9-year-old Hannah Whitfield of Costa Mesa and longtime Newport Beach

resident Norm Loats, two survivors separated in age by several

decades.

The honorary survivors -- Loats, 82, and Hannah, who was diagnosed

with leukemia when she was 6 -- have both beaten the disease. But

this quote from Hannah sums up just how tenuous it can be to fight

such a deadly foe:

“We go once a month to the hospital, and they take my blood to see

if it’s come back, but it hasn’t,” she said.

While Hannah, we hope, has kicked the disease for good, cancer

continues to be a scary and widespread danger.

Some 1.4 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and

about 500,000 people died from the disease, according to statistics

from the American Cancer Society. But the good news is that through

the efforts of the American Cancer Society and the medical

profession, survivability of cancer when it is diagnosed early is

about 65%.

That’s why events such as the Relay for Life are so important.

This year’s Relay for Life event set a record by raising more than

$106,000 toward a cure.

In the grand scheme of things, that total may not seem like much

to combat such a massive health plague that costs about $189 billion

annually, according to cancer society statistics, but it’s just

another example of the generosity of the Newport-Mesa community and

its constant and true support of philanthropic causes.

For more information on how to beat this disease, go to the

American Cancer Society’s website, https://www.cancer.org.