Dodge County Stroll celebrates 23 years

They came for different reasons, but they all had a singular purpose. Raise funds to help in the fight against cancer.
Dodge County residents filled the Dodge County Fairgrounds in Kasson last Friday night for the Dodge County Stroll, the Relay for Life effort in the county.
Although the evening had a festive atmosphere in many ways with entertainment and food stands, people were gathered for a purpose – to honor those who died from cancer, to support those dealing with cancer, celebrate those who have survived cancer and raise money to help in research to cure cancer.
2015 is the 30th year for the Relay for Life and 23 years for the event in Dodge County. Honorary Chair for the 2015 Stroll was Michele Stromme and Honorary Care Giver was Rose Culbertson.
The evening got under way with a Survivor’s Reception.
Lori Pagel, 2014 Honorary Chair, said she was attending as a “new survivor” having finished her treatment for breast cancer in May.
“It takes one full year to work through all the side effects of treatment,” she said. “It truly is one full year.”
The ag teacher at Kasson-Mantorville High School, Pagel said that when she was first diagnosed, she wanted to keep her cancer a secret. That’s the way most cancer patients feel, at least initially, she said. They feel that way, she said, not because cancer is shameful but more because of privacy concerns.
It proved impossible, she said, to keep the news from school staff and her students. She said she only missed a few days of classes while undergoing chemotherapy.
In the past, she said, there had been a large number of kids at school who ha been diagnosed with cancer, and she came to the realization that she could help the community in how they viewed the illness.
She could “tell them there is hope,” she said.Marianne Herold of West Concord was also at the stroll as a longtime cancer survivor, first having been diagnosed more than 40 years ago.
When she was diagnosed, she said, no one talked about cancer, and some still don’t want to talk about it.
Her experiences with the illness have led her and a fellow West Concord survivor to start a support group that meets monthly. They want to expand the group to include spouses and caregivers, she said. The monthly meetings give people a chance to talk about what they are going through and to try and maintain a positive attitude, Herold said.
Bailey Fields is a high school student who has been leader of the Bailey’s Hope team for five years. She started the team, she said, because two of her grandparents, Eleanor and Elmer Skogen, both died from colon cancer.
When her grandmother was diagnosed, she said, she just wanted to do something to help which led her to forming the Bailey’s Hope team to raise money and walk for the Relay Life. Her grandmother died two years after being diagnosed with cancer and later her grandfather was diagnosed with the same cancer.
Her other grandmother, Cathy Skogen, is also a cancer survivor, she said.
Friday night she had 13 or 14 people on her team, plus other family members and friends who were supporting the team. They had plans, she said, to have someone on the track walking all night.
Cathy Skogen was among those at the Relay supporting Bailey’s Hope adding that her oldest grandchild “is a special girl” for her efforts.
Following the welcoming comments, the singing of the National Anthem and the lighting of the Flame of Hope, cancer survivors were led by the Kasson American Legion Color Guard and the Honorary Chair in a lap around the track.
The idea was for each team to have at least one walker on the track throughout the night but at 8:30 all walkers were asked to stop for the lighting of the luminaries as Stromme and Culbertson led two bagpipers around the track again as the luminaries were lit as they passed by.
Walking and entertainment continued throughout the night until the closing ceremony at 6 a.m. followed by breakfast served by local 4-H members at 6:30 a.m.