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The Oakville Beaver, Wednesday April 10, 2002 - B3 Mayor's Alleluia friends to Youths carry Cross partidpate in Relay for Life on Good Friday walk By Wilma Blokhuis BEAVER FOCUS EDrrOR A choir directed by M ayor Ann Mulvale? Can't you just hear their rendi tion of the Alleluia Chorus? If you're participating in Oakville's first Relay for Life fundraiser for the Canadian Cancer Society on May 31 at Appleby College, chances are "very good" you'll hear their Alleluias. These women are entitled to having a little fun. Some of them, including Mulvale herself, are cancer survivors who will circle the track in the opening Survivors' Victory Lap. They will be celebrating life. Relay for Life is a 12-hour event starting at 7 p.m., and participants are being invited to pitch tents and camp overnight - sing songs, hold family reunions and company picnics as part of the overall event. About 1,000 partici pants are expected. Since the Relay for Life was announced in January. Mulvale has joked about the group's singing and spo ken seriously about her brush with can cer and how the group evolved. "Lottie Grant and Diana Saulez were the first of my support team during my journey with cancer." said Mulvale recently in explaining how Alleluia Group & Company evolved. "Later, we were joined by Karen Chuba. "These women cared for me very pri vately and everything they did was just amazing." Mulvale was diagnosed with malig nant melanoma in the fall of 1997, the same kind of skin cancer that killed her husband Peter two years earlier. "They took care of me after I came home from hospital, and took me to Princess Margaret (for treatments)," recalled Mulvale. adding she hid the diagnosis from the public. She was fighting for re-election as mayor - she had signed the nomination papers just days before she learned she had skin cancer. "I chose not to go public because it would be hard on my two sons. I lived through them being asked `how's your dad?' and I couldn't put them through that again. I was diagnosed with the very same cancer Peter had and I feared mak ing the same journey he made with the same outcome. I know they (her support team) cared very much that I lived. "They were with me on my physical and spiritual journey, and kept my confi dence the whole time," said Mulvale. "Even their family members weren't aware. Nobody had any inclination I was ill." The group grew to about four or five people, all of them supporting the mayor through her illness and all of them main taining her confidence. "I didn't know from month to month if the cancer was going into my lymph nodes." she said. "I was suffering from a very serious form o f malignant melanoma." After receiving a clear pathology report in March 1998, she invited her support group to a "champagne celebra tion" at her home after chairing council. Now clear of cancer, Mulvale has become a spokesperson for early detec tion and treatment, advocated for the establishment of Wellspring Cancer Support Foundation in Oakville almost Julie Fairrie · Oakville Beaver T he m a y o r's Alleluia Group & Company a re ready to kick up th e ir heels for the M ay 31 Relay fo r Life a t A ppleby College. Shown from left, w ith Relay fo r Life team re c ru ite r C ari M acL ean. are D iana Saulez, M ayor Ann M ulvale, L ottie G ra n t, an d K aren C huba. two years ago, promotes the Ontario Breast Screening Program, and supports the Canadian Cancer Society. And, the group, no longer required to attend to Mulvale's needs and keep her battle with cancer a secret, has grown into a circle of about a dozen fun-loving friends. "We go on annual retreats." said Mulvale. All of them share the mayor's deep religious faith. "There is a strong religious component in our lives. "They are a special group of women. The nucleus of the group walked that journey with me. I no longer had a spouse (to lean on) and my two sons were away at university. I needed dress ing changes, and I didn't want to call upon visiting nurses or cancer support services volunteers because then word would get out that I was ill. "They are beautiful people, and I'm blessed. My journey was doable, because of the kindness of these people, at a time when I believed I had only a year or so to live. They were,there for me, and they still are. When one of these women was recently widowed. I was able to return her kindness. "This group has grown from a small nucleus of people who supported me through my journey into a larger group." concluded Mulvale. "We still support each other. We can be a friend at a criti cal time - we've created community. "We have a lot of fun. We are a live ly, but not always sober group. We like good red wine, we like to cook, share stories, and hold Christmas parties. A lot of us are single." Each year, the group celebrates Mulvale's birthday. The Oakville Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society is currently recruiting team captains and teams, plus survivors, to participate in the Relay for Life. To volunteer as a team captain, to become a sponsor, or if you are a cancer survivor, call the Oakville Unit of the Canadian Cancer Society at 905-8455231 to register. A wooden cross was carried across times to mark the 14 Stations of the Oakville from St. Andrew's Church to Cross, arriving at St. Dominic's for a St. Dominic's Church on Good Friday as Taiz6 service and refreshments donated 88 pilgrims, mostly youth, participated by Tim Hortons at about 6:30 p.m. The participants sang hymns as they in a Good Friday Pilgrimage. The walk was held to raise awareness walked. Lunch was a cup of "delicious poor and generate funds for Oakville's partic ipation in World Youth Day on July. Up man's soup" cooked by Celeste Orsini to one million youth are expected to and served at St. James Church, said gather in Toronto, along with Pope John Kantor. "It was very good vegetable Paul II, from July 23 to 28. From July 18 soup. We ate the soup to sympathize to 21. participating youth will be spread with the poor. However, some people out across Canada for Days in the fasted on Good Friday. "St. John Ambulance donated a Diocese to experience different cultures ambulance to follow us throughout the across Canada. About 170 youth. 80 of them from entire pilgrimage," added Kantor. "and Poland and the remainder from across three St. John attendants volunteered Canada, will be billeted at St. Thomas their time for the whole day." The St. Thomas Aquinas Hosting Aquinas Secondary School - and travel daily to Toronto - during World Youth Committee is supported by five parishes. Day, said walk-a-thon organizer David Mary Mother of God. St. Andrew's. S t Kantor ,of the St. Thomas Aquinas Dominic's, St. James, and St. Joseph's. A Pasta Fit for the Pope Dinner and Hosting Committee. "In addition to the students, we had Silent Auction will be held on Saturday children as young as eight, and adults April 13, as a second fundraising project in support of the World Youth Day. at the participating in the walk." The event raised $2,600 to help cover Knights o f Columbus Hall, 1494 expenses for hosting, transporting and Wallace Rd. Doors and a cash bar open at 6 p.m., feeding the visiting youth. But fundraising was only one compo and a buffet dinner begins at 7 p.m. The evening wijl feature live entertainment, nent of the walk, said Kantor. "It was also held to strengthen our and a silent auction. For reservations and information, call faith and to better understand Jesus Karen Chuba. 905-825-3464. Christ's passion and sacrifice." For more information about World Its theme was `The Way o f the Youth Day, or to donate food or volunCross.' 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