NATCHEZ — As midnight approached and the crowds thinned-out the spirit of those at Friday’s Relay for Life never faltered.

“I’m an all-nighter,” Peggy Weathersby said. “I’m not going home any time soon.”

As midnight came and went Weathersby was one of only a very small number walking the track with a sash that simply displayed the word “survivor.”

In 2000 an odd lump in Weathersby’s upper thigh had her concerned.

It was cancer.

“When I heard that I was shocked,” she said. “When you say ‘cancer’ the first think I think is death.”

But Saturday morning Weathersby was living proof that attitude matters. In fact her “survivor” sash was the only visible sign of a medical problem.

Weathersby has been in remission since 2001.

“It’s all in your attitude,” she said. “You just give it up to God and let him take care of it.”

And that’s how Weathersby said she got through her ordeal.

With faith and a good attitude.

Fellow survivor, minus the sash, Susan Weed had a similar view on her experience with ovarian cancer.

“It’s not that bad,” she said.

Weed was diagnosed in 2006.

She said she had been participating in Relay for years before but never imagined herself on the other end of the spectrum.

While hearing a cancer survivor say “it’s not that bad,” is probably not the norm Weed, like Weathersby, said it’s all in the attitude.

Though both women said chemotherapy was a draining and difficult experience, both continued working and constantly maintained an upbeat attitude.

And though both women remained strong through their treatments Weed said family members also suffer from the cancer.

“It’s hard on them,” she said.

And for Weed that’s what Relay is for — family.

“It leaves families feeling helpless,” she said. “This is something they can do to help.”

For many family members Relay is their only recourse against cancer.

While the money raised for cancer research is valuable the experience for the impacted families cannot be underestimated Weed said.

“This is good for them,” she said.