Crownpoint ‘Relay on the Rez’ promotes cancer awareness

Sarah Morlang walks with a group of kids during Relay on the Rez American Cancer Society event on Friday evening at Crownpoint High School. Morlang is the founder of the first ever event. [Photo by Bran Leddy/Independent]

By Natasha Kaye Johnson
Diné Bureau

CROWNPOINT — Community members gathered together at the Crownpoint High School football stadium Friday evening for an all-night event promoting cancer awareness.

The “Relay on the Rez” is the first relay on the Navajo Nation to bring attention to cancer and raise money for cancer research in the Native American community. It reflects the American Cancer Society’s “Relay for Life” that helps to raise money for cancer research.

As the early evening turned into night, people circled the track, making what organizers called Survivor’s Laps. By 10 p.m., about 80 people were in attendance, with many setting up camping tents to stay overnight. Some talked amongst one another, while others visited educational booths containing pamphlets and information on cancer.

“I want people to be educated,” said Sarah J. Morlang, a nurse with the Crownpoint Hospital who was a primary organizer of the event. Morlang has been lobbying for cancer patients for more than 10 years, after her sister was diagnosed and treated for skin cancer. But she found her efforts to get help from within the political arena were not getting very far. She focused her efforts at a grassroots level, and zeroed in on health promotion.

“The purpose is to get people out here to get to know what cancer is,” Morlang said. “Being diagnosed with cancer doesn’t mean death.”

As a nurse at the Crownpoint Hospital for seven years, Morlang said there is very little patient education available, compared to areas in New Mexico like Bernalillo.

The event also served as an opportunity for people to remember loved ones they lost to cancer. Loritta Largo of Crownpoint set-up a booth memorial which included her late father, father-in law, and brother-in-law, all whom she lost to cancer. Largo is also a 10-year breast cancer survivor, and served as the event coordinator.

People could be heard sharing their stories about cancer.

“We’re overcoming that taboo of talking about cancer issues,” Benita McKerny, Native American advocacy director for the American Cancer Society, said.