When Derek Lamson was diagnosed with a peculiar kind of kidney cancer at the age of four, his treatment at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis began, with all the surgeries and medications following it. After that day, every year passes like a gift to him by God. He is 19 years old now and has been gifted with 15 birthdays after that, and wishes eagerly for the next.

There have been other cancer survivors also across the nation. Tracy Urick, 41, for instance, was diagnosed with a “good cancer” by the doctors. She said that she has been lucky and feels honored to overcome her thyroid cancer. She’ll be speaking about surviving cancer in the 15th Annual American Cancer Society's Relay for Life of Belleville, at Belleville West High School.

Even Lamson has now been cancer-free, and he and his mother have been volunteering for the Niles-Buchanan Relay for Life for past 11 years. Months of fundraising events, in addition to an all-day walkathon, is organized by Relay for Life, which works to raise funds for American Cancer Society, and to put a halt on this deadly ailment.

“A world without cancer is a world with more birthdays” was the theme put up for this year’s event of Relay for Life. It had an idea to celebrate the birthdays of all these cancer survivors, and also to honor those who died because of this disease.