WINDSOR – While there are many teams, there is really only one opponent: cancer.

Approximately 80 to 100 local cancer survivors, a group that included anyone who has ever been diagnosed with the disease, kicked off the 2016 Bertie County Relay for Life event at Bertie High School’s Roy L. Bond, Sr. Stadium Friday night at 6 p.m.

From a rousing survivor’s speech to open the activities to everything from gospel music to country, volunteers, and teams of walkers who kept the track busy all the way up to midnight, this year’s event was fun, but the focus remained fixed on the goal of defeating cancer.

This year’s Relay counted 40 teams and approximately 1,500 participants, according to the Relay for Life committee. As of Monday afternoon, Relay reported that nearly $225,000 had been pledged.

“This is after we get all our corporate donations, payroll deductions, and the like,” said Committee member Bobbie Parker.

Relay for Life celebrates survivors, remembers loved ones, commits to fight back against this dreaded disease through healthy lifestyle changes and raises money for the fight against cancer.

As the late coach Jim Valvano said, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.”

Survivor speaker this year was Washington County Schools Assistant Superintendent Fannie Williams, a Bertie County native. Many in the crowd who knew Fannie said they were unaware of her fight.

“I’m here to inspire you,” she implored. “Whether you’re in a fight, or you are supporting someone in a fight: be positive. Don’t drag them down; give them what they need to hear to keep going every day.”

Williams spoke most eloquently of how her Christian faith had most augmented her will to beat the disease.’

“I’m here to tell you that God is a healer,” she testified. “And I thank him and pray every day for the deliverance that I have received.” This remark produced thunderous applause from those assembled.

“Sometimes God will take you down just so you can get yourself together,” she said, as a broad smile lit up her face. “When I received my news, I thought I was at an end; but, I just opened my Bible, really got into the word, and I understood the plan that God had for my life.”

Williams credits her mother – and her mother’s strength and vision – as an inspiration.

“I remember I was starting a doctoral program at N.C. State,” she recalled. “But I felt just so down. And my mother just scolded me and said, ‘You better get outta here and go do what you’re supposed to do!’, and so I went to Raleigh, missed only five classes, and still got an ‘A’.”

Williams ended her talk with the poem: “To an End”, part of which she read:

“Though this is a rugged battle, there’s a way for us to win.

We must bring this cancer down, so nobody has to face it again.

“Until we finally find that cure, we will continue to explore.

We want a world where cancer doesn’t affect anyone anymore.

“When all of us come together, it’s a message that we send.

We will make a difference. We will bring cancer to an end.”