Vidalia — Clutching a cane and slowly shuffling his feet, John Crocker might have made that first survivor lap a little slower than others, but he wouldn’t miss it for the world.

Crocker recently had double knee replacement, but for him, Relay for Life is a yearly staple.

Diagnosed with colon cancer in January 1997, Crocker went through 29 treatments of radiation, 26 treatments of chemotherapy and surgery.

“They took out about eight inches of my colon,” he said.

Crocker has been attending Relay since its very beginning in 1996, the year before his diagnosis, when it was only in the parking lot at the Natchez mall.

“I went to see what it was all about and I ended up staying half the night,” Crocker said.

Each year he’s seen the number of people rise, going from a handful of people to huge masses.

“The amount of money we raise every year keeps going up too,” Crocker said.

Watching the community breathe more and more life into the event is something Crocker calls meaningful.

For breast cancer survivor Velmon Haynes, who went through her experience virtually alone, seeing the community together like this makes her feel shrouded in support.

Haynes is a part of the team God’s Angelic Warriors something she said has been comforting and humbling.

Haynes said she knows what she went through was bad, but there’s always someone who has it worse.

“All the people in the group have talked about what we’ve been through and you realize how blessed you are,” Haynes said. “What I went through was mild compared to what people went through.”

Haynes, through a self examination, found a lump in her right breast and had a mastectomy before going through six months of chemotherapy.

“It was horrible,” she said of the nausea and fatigue.

In remission now, Haynes is pleased to be a part of Relay with her team.

“We’ve been raising money all year for this,” she said.

Haynes said she hopes that one day a cure will be found, and she will continue to raise money to put toward the effort.

“I just hope they find a cure so other people won’t have to suffer like I’ve seen people suffer,” Haynes said, referring to her mother and favorite aunt who both died from cancer. “My mother suffered so bad.”

The Concordia Bank team decked out in pirate gear with forks and knives in hand, had raised $12,400 before the event, as of their last tally.

“Mainly we eat all the time,” team captain Ceryl Cullum said with a laugh.

The bulk of their fundraising, she said, came from cooking and selling meals at the bank.

Wide-eyed as the sun slowly dipped below the levee, Cullum spoke for many on the team when she said they would walk all night.

“(For the) ones that stay all night, we’ve lost someone to cancer and that’s our motivation,” she said.

Brent Gore, who sits on the board of directors for the bank, plans on staying up all night, too, fueled by cause.

“It’s a great cause, it’s the best cause,” he said.

Just a few tents down, crowds of people lined up for the diverse spread of food offered by McDaniel Plumbing Company.

Pulled pork, smoked chicken, hamburgers, nachos and hot fudge cake bring in the big bucks, said Mitzi Reeves, one of the team captains.

“We probably raised a little over $2,000 in food alone,” she of last year’s effort.

And she expects the same this year.

“We’re on our last pork roast, we’re fixing to be out pretty soon,” Reeves said. “Business is better than we thought.”

When energy runs low, Miss-Lou Team Extreme team captain Tammy Rouse has some tricks up her sleeve.

“We’ve got some funny plans,” she said.

It’s all keeping people perked up and energetic, she said.

Rouse said Team Extreme’s plans this year are to be the motivators and the spirit of the event.

“We’re trying to bring back the fun this year,” Rouse said.

Janis Holder, chair of Relay for Life, said despite the elements, turn out was looking good.

“Fortunately it did not rain,” Holder said. “The good Lord listened to us when he didn’t make it rain.”

As of 8 p.m. she said turnout wasn’t too high, but attributed that to its being summer vacation and Father’s Day weekend. Also, three teams didn’t participate that had originally signed up, which are all school teams. A near-record flood last month delayed the normal May event.

As of the final tally from bank night, the Miss-Lou had raised $179,000, which is short by $8,000 compared to last year.

But the night was still young. The Markets team was in the lead with a total of $19,000 and the Natchez Educators team trailed close behind with almost $17,000.