Local Survivors Gear Up for Foothills Relay

Wade Battley is a survivor.

She survived the awkwardness of high school, the excitement of marriage and the stress of being a working mother with a career in Hollywood.

And now she is surviving cancer.

"Before, it was unthinkable for someone to last five years with cancer," said Battley, a La Crescenta resident. But she's going on six years and her ninth round of chemotherapy since she was first diagnosed with stage two breast cancer in 2001.

Battley is a wife and mother of a 14-year-old girl and says that life has not been any worse since her diagnosis.

"There are a lot of people living with cancer," Battley says. "And you don't have to give up and say it's over."

Battley will join an estimated 500 other participants at this weekend's seventh annual Foothills Relay for Life to celebrate that same attitude — the attitude of hope.

"The Relay is to make people aware that cancer is survivable, there is support out there, and there are resources for those living with cancer," said Maureen Palacios, who is just finishing her final round of chemo for colon cancer that was detected around this time last year.

Palacios owns and operates Once Upon a Time, a children's bookstore in downtown Montrose. She said the worst part about facing cancer was juggling her multiple responsibilities as a small business owner, mother of two and wife.

"I had to learn to say 'yes' and allow others to help me," Palacios said.

This will be the first year she will be involved in the Relay, but already Palacios has gotten a lot out of the experience.

She participated in a May 1 "Paint the Town Purple" awareness day in downtown Montrose when local businesses decorated their windows and storefronts with purple balloons and decorations.

"It was great to see the support and make people aware of the Relay," Palacios said.

Palacios says that Battley convinced her to participate in the American Cancer Society event.

"Wade is the driving force behind a lot of it," Palacios said. "She is unbelievable, with her history and the way she continues to battle with strength and hope."

For Jen Bayles, a mother of two and volunteer with the Meet the Masters program at La Crescenta schools, the Relay has been a great opportunity to meet other cancer survivors facing similar challenges.