Engines roared at Sands Speedway on Sunday as the community gathered for the “Walk for Cancer Care of Marquette County” race, an event dedicated to supporting individuals and families affected by cancer.
For Track Promoter Tina Brandel, the race holds deep personal significance. “My brother was just recently put on hospice care, so this is really important for me and my family to do,” Brandel said. She added that while the topic is heartbreaking, such events are an important way to acknowledge and process grief as a community. “This is normal life, and we have to deal with it,” Brandel stated. “It’s one day at a time, and that’s all you can do.”
The event raised donations for Cancer Care of Marquette County, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to patients undergoing treatment. David Poirier, the organization’s president, said the nonprofit has already allocated approximately $100,000 to 80 individuals this year to help alleviate the financial strain of the disease.
“What normally happens is that they’ve been at it for a few months, they think they’re gonna be fine, but then the bills start coming in,” Poirier explained. “The medical and the travel bills.”
The speedway welcomed cancer fighters and survivors, including racer Bernard Penegor, who survived stage two colon cancer. He spoke of the solidarity within the cancer community and the profound difficulty of the experience.
“I’m always going to fight alongside people with cancer; it’s a unique group, and it’s a hard fight, a really hard fight,” Penegor said. “It’s probably one of the hardest fights of my life.”
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