Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country | Founded 05-05-05

Fighting For Life: Three of Relay’s Heavy-Hitters

Story by David Brewer and Garrett Simmons

Among the thousands of participants, coordinators, team captains and survivors are special individuals who have taken the Relay message to heart and have continually risen to the challenge in the fight against the disease. Below are three of the many stories of extraordinary dedication found with the ranks of Watauga’s Relay warriors.

Della Presnell

Like many volunteers, Della Presnell became involved in Relay For Life after the loss of a loved one. In May 2000, her son Ted Presnell lost his five-year battle with melanoma. That year, Della began her own fight by joining Relay For Life, an event that quickly became her purpose.

In her first year, with only three weeks before the Relay, Della raised $3,000 in luminary and auction sales. She has continued her fundraising efforts, raising more than $35,000 for Relay For Life. Remarkably, she has done so as a one-woman team, consistently raising the highest amount by an individual. “I consider it my job,” she said, “to raise as much money as I possibly can, to save someone else the pain my son had to go through.”

During her eight years of working with Relay For Life, Della said she has witnessed the power of the event on both a personal and community level. “For me it has been a form of therapy,” she said. “And on top of that, it works. Since I became involved, I know that awareness has been raised.”

Della said she takes comfort from knowing she is not alone in her fight. “There are so many people who help me every year, and I am grateful for every one of them.”

Tara Trivette

When she attended her first Relay For Life at age 6, Tara Trivette said she was “mostly scared. There were just a ton of people everywhere—it was overwhelming.” Luckily, it was exciting too, because she has been coming back to participate every year since. Daughter of Relay Co-Chair Sharon Trivette, Tara is a third-generation Relay For Life volunteer and is instilled with her family’s passion for the event. She is not only captain of her own Relay team, now consisting of more than 30 members, but also works behind the scenes at every committee meeting, making sure everything runs smoothly.

Two years ago, Tara joined the Relay For Life Faculty/Staff and began hosting an all-day mini-relay at her school. Tara said it’s important to raise cancer awareness in all age groups because “it affects everyone. Even people my age are diagnosed.” She has helped generate funds and awareness at her school by organizing projects such as the Thanksgiving turkey sale and other holiday fundraisers. Tara is looking forward to this year’s relay, and said she hopes it is the biggest yet.

Wendy May

Before her 14-year-run as captain of Relay team the Cancer Erasers began, local resident and recent ASU Office of Conferences and Institutes retiree Wendy May served on the board of the Watauga Division of the American Cancer Society, where she helped coordinate fundraising efforts in the High Country.

“At that time we did a lot of different fundraisers, before Relay became the signature event,” said May.

As with many others, May’s decision to become involved with the American Cancer Society stemmed from the loss of a family member to the disease. May lost her mother before battling the disease herself.

“I felt very positive; I felt very upbeat and I knew that the people at the American Cancer Society were there for me,” said May.

According to May, her decision to become involved with Relay in the late 1990s “just made sense.” While May admitted that she is not typically one of the top fundraisers and feels they deserve the lion’s share of the credit, her commitment to the fight against cancer cannot be questioned.

“It’s just something I couldn’t walk away from,” said May.