Long-time volunteer battles cancer
After years of volunteering and helping others in need, Carrie Hill of Arlington Heights is now accepting help with her own personal challenge -- battling a diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
Friends and family have provided help with meals, child care and support during her surgery, treatment and recovery. When asked what else they could do, she suggested forming a team to participate in Relay For Life.
The results were more than she expected. Together her family and friends from the Newcomers Club of Arlington Heights have organized the "Hills of Hope A & B," two teams working to help eliminate cancer at Relay For Life of Palatine, Rolling Meadows and Inverness on June 13 at Palatine High School.
Carrie has been involved in the American Cancer Society's signature fundraiser off and on for the last 12 years. In 2003 she found new inspiration to try to eliminate cancer when her brother Bill Collopy of Arlington Heights was diagnosed with testicular cancer. This year is a little different, however, she is fighting her own battle with the disease.
Carrie was surprised when the lump that her chiropractor felt in her neck last November turned out to be thyroid cancer. "I had no pain or symptoms of any kind," she said.
When the thyroidectomy took place Feb. 11, the 14 lymph nodes removed tested positive for cancer. Since the surgery, she followed a strict iodine-restricted diet in preparation for a test in mid-April, which determined that the cancer had not "traveled" to other areas of her body.
"I still have another round of testing again in October, but I consider myself lucky to have found it when we did," she added.
Carrie and her husband Steve have two children, Genevieve, 6, and Grayson, 4.
"The help my friends and family have given means a lot to us. I was always the one to setting up play dates, scheduling activities and volunteering and just found myself saying yes to many jobs. It took me a while to get used to accepting help from others, " Carrie said.
The Hills of Hope team is just one of the around 75 teams that will be participating in Relay For Life of Palatine on June 13. This year's goal is to raise $180,000. To be a part of the Hills of Hope Newcomers team or for membership information contact Colleen Wytmar at vicepres@ahnewcomers.com
Relay For Life, which also is held in neighboring communities throughout the summer, is open to all ages. Participants can help by forming a team, volunteering for the event, donating an item for the silent auction, purchasing luminaria to remember or honor someone touched by cancer, or celebrate by participating as a survivor or caregiver.
For more information, contact the American Cancer Society at 847-368-1166 or www.Relayforlife.org.