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Stephanie Johnson is a statistic and she's proud of it. Johnson, a senior sales producer at Clarkson Insurance and Financial Services in Riverview, is one of hundreds of cancer survivors getting set to participate in the Relay For Life event of Bloomingdale, being held March 28-29 at the Bloomingdale High School Track. She's also this year's event chairperson.Every year, the American Cancer Society brings together millions of people with one common goal - to eliminate cancer. The Relay For Life of Bloomingdale - one of eight Relay For Life events in Southeast Hillsborough - gets underway at 6 p.m. when survivors take to the school track for the opening lap and the emotional Luminaria Ceremony where candles lining the track are lit in honor or in memory of someone with cancer.To say that Relay For Life is something near and dear to her heart is an understatement, Johnson says. "This is definitely a celebration of the millions of people who are touched by cancer every year - the survivors, their spouses, their children, their friends. My personal mission, though, is to raise as much awareness as possible so that we can contribute even more money to research that helps people like me." Johnson, 31, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in May 2004. She points to awareness raised about the HPV virus, which can cause cervical cancer and the subsequent introduction of the Gardasil vaccine used to prevent cervical cancer and precancerous cervical lesions. The vaccine was not available when Johnson was diagnosed. But she knows that without the awareness, funding the research to develop a cure for millions of girls would never have been possible.Today, Johnson is in remission and adamant about telling everyone she knows about the importance of preparedness and protection. "So many people say 'not me,' but the reality is that it can happen to anyone at any age and that's particularly true if your family has a history of cancer," she said. "The more research we do, the better off future generations are going to be." While some cancers aren't preventable, Johnson says there are ways to prepare and protect yourself in the event the disease strikes your family. Her employer, Clarkson Allstate Insurance, recently began offering customers a cancer insurance product designed to help manage the high expenses of treatment and protect families from financial hardship. Agency owner John Clarkson, who recently lost his first cousin, Cindy Coffin-Ness of Madison WI. to breast cancer, is so committed to finding a cure that his agency will donate 100 percent of the commission generated from cancer insurance product sales to the Bloomingdale and FishHawk Relay For Life events. Furthermore, the policy owner can designate which relay the donation goes toward & to the specific team of their choice. "It's not often that you meet someone who has not been touched by cancer in some way," said Johnson. "We're encouraging everyone to come out on March 28 to celebrate the courage of that friend, sister, brother, mom, dad, aunt, uncle or whomever they know whose life depends on us finding a cure." For more information on the Bloomingdale Relay For Life, call the Southeast Hillsborough American Cancer Society office at 685-0670 x.112 or visit www.events.cancer.org/rflbloomingdalefl.
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