Following diagnosis, cancer patients and their loved ones often seek any information they can find to help them navigate the baffling disease.

For those living in Chilton County, a committee interest meeting will be held July 14 at 6 p.m. at the Alabama Power Conference Center. The purpose of the meeting is for anyone interested in learning more about the American Cancer Society and how to be more involved in Chilton County Relay For Life. Those planning to attend are asked to bring a friend.

By contacting the American Cancer Society, cancer patients can quickly receive treatment information or local support programs. Caregivers can access information on coping. General information, including facts and statistics about cancer, is also readily available.

“A cancer diagnosis is a devastating experience, not only for the patient but for everyone around them,” according to a press release from the American Cancer Society. Knowledge truly is power. The American Cancer Society helps people easily connect with information to lessen the burden, calm the fears and prepare for the road ahead.”

The American Cancer Society is a global grassroots force of more than 3 million volunteers saving lives and fighting for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community.

As the largest voluntary health organization, the Society’s efforts have contributed to a 20-percent decline in cancer death rates in the U.S. since 1991, and a 50 -percent drop in smoking rates.

Thanks in part to the recent progress nearly 14.5 million Americans who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will celebrate more birthdays this year.

The organization is finding cures as the nation’s largest private, not-for-profit investor in cancer research, ensuring people facing cancer have the help they need and continuing the fight for access to quality health care, lifesaving screenings, clean air, and more. For more information, to get help, or to join the fight, call anytime, day or night, at (800) 227-2345 or visit www.cancer.org/fight.

Erin Moore, of Clanton, who has been greatly affected by cancer, joined the Chilton County Relay For Life committee in 2014. Moore shares her story below:

“On March 8, 1996, my family and I were greatly impacted by cancer. It wasn’t the first time cancer has affected us and certainly hasn’t been the last. However, my granddaddy was so dear to our family that it left an emptiness that will never be filled. I remember sitting next to my granddaddy in the back pew during church and resting against his Santa belly while he kept me warm under his jacket. And, every Christmas, he stood in the kitchen wearing his top hat and apron while he cooked us Christmas breakfast: grapefruit, eggs Benedict, and bananas Foster. Since his passing years ago, we all try to recreate his breakfast, and yet still we do not have it mastered like he did.

I remember the last Christmas with my granddaddy; we did not know yet that he had cancer yet but we knew he was sick. While he cooked breakfast, he sat on a stool because he was too weak to stand. He was diagnosed a month later, and then six weeks after that he passed on.

I will tell you that even though I love seeing the joy in my children’s eyes on Christmas morning, I still have that emptiness from missing my Santa in the kitchen.

It was because of the loss of my granddaddy that I was introduced to Relay For Life. My uncle was on a team and the committee, even serving as the chairman for the Blount County Relay For Life team. I was in high school at the time and even though I walked during the Relay event, I didn’t quite understand what I was walking for.

It was until three years ago that I was re-introduced to Relay For Life by a friend that decided to form a team in honor of her niece that was fighting for cancer and in memory of her nephew that passed due to cancer. We were a small group, but we worked hard even making one of the top 10 fundraising teams during 2014’s Relay. Way to go Cure Crusaders!

This year, I joined the Relay committee because I wanted to do more to help fight cancer and find a cure. I just want say that life will throw you a curve ball. As we were decorating for this year’s Relay For Life kick off, I got a call from my dad. My mom was having surgery to remove some skin cancer spots. Dad called to tell me that they found where the cancer had spread to her bone. That day, we didn’t know that it wasn’t just on the bone, but it was in the bone.

I want us to recognize that because of Relay and because of that time and effort and money, we are making a difference! To remove my mom’s bone cancer, they had to go in, remove the top layer of her skull, twist her scalp, and then sew it in place. Now, it looked awful and she still had 6 weeks of radiation to endure, but how amazing is that! You remove cancer by taking part of someone’s skull and send them home all in one day! It’s because of Relay for Life that allowed the research of those procedures that I get more of my mamma smiles, more of her hugs and her kisses, and more Saturday shopping trips. My children get more time with their Baba. And she lives another day with my daddy that is always by her side. Because of all Relay For Lifers’ time, effort, and donations advances in the medicines and procedures were developed and someone just got to spend Christmas with their family, someone just celebrated another birthday, and someone just held their child or grandchild in their arms.

My promise to my granddaddy and my mamma is to continue to fight for a cure and know because of Relay For Life that not at all stories end with remembering but surviving.”