Sylvia Templeton considers herself a winner. She doesn’t waste an opportunity to share that information, either.
Templeton, 77, will serve as event leader for the Oktibbeha County Relay for Life, which returns in May after a five-year hiatus. Relay for Life is an event held in communities all across the nation to raise funds for cancer research and create awareness of a disease that produces nearly 2 million new cases annually in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society.
Templeton’s involvement predates the Oktibbeha County event. She attended her first Relay shortly after she contracted breast cancer in 1996.
Over the years, she’s served in just about every role for Oktibbeha County Relay, which began in 2002. The annual event was canceled because of COVID-19 in 2020 and did not return during the next three years.
“I came out a winner and Relay has given me a platform to share my victory,” Templeton said. “Relay has also allowed me to rejoice with others and to honor and remember those who have been touched by cancer. I am so grateful for the opportunity to bring the Relay back to Starkville.”
As it is with many women, especially those with no family history of breast cancer, Templeton’s came like a bolt of lightning out of the blue.
“I didn’t know much about breast cancer and hadn’t read much about it,” said Templeton, who was 50 at the time of her diagnosis. “It wasn’t in my family, so really, I didn’t do much. I’d had a couple of mammograms, but I didn’t have them yearly. It just wasn’t on my radar, really.”
The first indication that something was wrong came on a visit to her family doctor to discuss an unrelated health problem. The doctor conducted a breast exam and noticed that the nipple on her right breast had become inverted.
“I had noticed that, but I just thought it was part of getting older because I never felt any lumps, which is what I thought was the sign for cancer,” she said. “So they sent me to a specialist … who did a biopsy and told me it was malignant. I was totally shocked.”
And lucky, too, Templeton believes.
“It was kind of a miracle that I got diagnosed when I did,” she said. “Because it was detected early, I had a lot of options. I chose to have a mastectomy, and since the cancer hadn’t moved into any lymph nodes, I didn’t have to have chemotherapy or radiation. I just took one pill and day for five years, and that was it. My story was a victory, and a big part of it was because of early detection. That’s the message I’ve been giving out all these years.”
Templeton moved to Starkville from her native Monroe, Louisiana, four years before diagnosis. Through her own breast cancer journey she’s gotten to know hundreds of breast cancer survivors, mainly through her work with Relay for Life.
“I consider Relay as part of my story,” she said. “Over the years, I’ve been involved in just about every part of Relay.”
Templeton said as event leader, she’s kind of a Mother Hen.
“I’ll be involved in every part of the planning, including working with the teams and helping get everything organized.
This year’s event will be held from 4 p.m. until midnight May 11 at Fire Station Park.
With each Relay event, teams of people from businesses, schools, civic groups, churches, neighborhoods and more begin raising money several months leading up to the actual event and raise money the night of the event itself.
The Relay is held over several hours on a site centered around a track, where each team has some of its members walking throughout the event to symbolize the battle faced by a cancer patient during treatment. Kicking off the Relay will be laps by cancer survivors and their caregivers.
Each participating team has a campsite around the Relay track. Games, food, music and live entertainment are a big part of the event, which also includes times of recognition and a special service to light luminaries and Torches of Hope to honor cancer survivors and remember those who lost their battles with cancer.
Templeton said she’s grateful for that trip to the doctor’s office that ultimately led to early diagnosis and successful treatment for her cancer.
“I preach getting mammograms and self-examinations,” she said. “But I also tell everybody if something seems wrong, if you feel bad don’t just say it’s nothing. Go to the doctor. Get checked out. That may have saved my life.”
Slim Smith is a columnist and feature writer for The Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
