For the first time since 2018, a crowd gathered at the Wareham Middle School track to participate in Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. 

Event organizers Tricia Hackett-Turner and Megan Murphy called the event on Friday, Sept. 13, a “revival.”

Hackett-Turner and Murphy previously ran Wareham’s Relay for Life until it was moved to Plymouth in 2019. Now, they’ve brought it back to town. 

“We really missed the event, missed the camaraderie of the town coming together to support each other, and there’s nothing like this in our area any more,” said Hackett-Turner, noting that the nearest Relay for Life events are held in Fall River or on Cape Cod. 

Relay for Life started in Tacoma, Washington in 1985 by Dr. Gordon Klatt, who walked and ran around a track for 24 hours to raise $27,000 for cancer research.

Now, participants register as teams while friends, family and complete strangers donate to sponsor those who pledge to walk and run the duration of the event. 

At Wareham’s Relay for Life, which ran from Friday afternoon into Saturday morning, 72 participants raised just over $28,500.

According to Hackett-Turner, she took on the challenge of organizing this year’s relay because she has lost loved ones to cancer. 

And according to Relay for Life volunteer Tracy McGraw, Hackett-Turner took on the challenge “because she’s brave and strong and wants to bring it back for the people.”

The people of Wareham welcomed Relay for Life with open arms.

Cancer survivors opened the event with a lap around the track set to triumphant and upbeat music. They were then joined by others who all had their own reasons for joining the relay. 

Fifth-generation Wareham resident Jilian Morton walked with her family in remembrance of her 9-year-old brother Johnathan Wendel Vaughan, who died in 1997 after a battle with leukemia.

“It means a lot to me for the community of Wareham to raise [money],” she said. “But also it does create this platform to show the next generation … how to talk about cancer and how to get involved.”

Morton’s husband, Jacob Freeman, said that cancer research is “something that’s been near and dear to our hearts for a long time.”

He added that he hopes this event instills his step-children with respect for “the gravity of the situation and thankfulness for the progress that has been made so far.”

Seven-year-old Oakley Morton held up a pin of her uncle, Jonathan Wendel Vaughan, and said the sight of cancer survivors walking the track gave her hope.