One year, Shelle Arnold was in the stands at Relay for Life to watch her daughter-in-law participate in a victory lap for cancer survivors. At the next year’s event, she found herself holding a candle in a loved one’s memory.

Relay for Life committee members got together this week to finish up plans for this year's event at Free State High School. Maggie Fieger, left, of Lawrence, receives a gift for her efforts from Shelle Arnold, of Topeka.

In the five years since, Arnold has become one of those organizing and contributing to Relay for Life, joining in the effort to battle cancer.

Such are the elements at play during a Relay for Life event. Simultaneously it is a sunset-to-sunrise celebration of those who have survived the disease, a paying of respects for those who are gone and an opportunity for anybody to help fight.

“It really is an event not to be missed,” said Arnold, a member of the organizing committee for Douglas County’s Relay for Life, which begins Friday at the Free State High School track.

Relay for Life is an international fundraiser hosted by local communities for the American Cancer Society. It features participants, working in teams, walking around a track continuously from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. to symbolize that cancer never sleeps.

The money raised supports cancer research and patient assistance.

“It’s an awesome feeling knowing I can help someone that, say, is going through chemotherapy, and has lost their hair,” Arnold said. “They can feel like a whole new person again because they can go to the American Cancer Society office and get a wig to wear.”

The Douglas County Relay for Life, now in its eighth year, has been the most successful event in Kansas for two years, having raised about $355,000 over that time, said Amanda Davis, the committee’s co-chairwoman.

With a fundraising goal of $190,000 this year, Douglas County already has more than 700 participants registered and nearly $130,000 pledged as of Tuesday.

“We’d love for the general public to come out,” Davis said. “You don’t have to be a registered participant to show up and watch.”