Groups gather at track to walk for a cure
By GREG HAYES REPORTER

OCN/Greg Hayes A poster with a picture of the late "Hero of Hope" Victoria Enmon faces the track at Larry B. Ward Stadium at Bridge City High School as cancer survivors make the first lap to kick off the ninth annual Orange County Relay for Life.

The late Victoria "Tori" Enmon's face was plastered on two posters along the fence at Larry B. Ward Stadium at Bridge City High School this past weekend.

Though she lost her battle with cancer earlier this year, she is still a survivor, Patti Fisk, a Hero of Hope and an American Cancer Society volunteer, said during the opening ceremony of the ninth annual Orange County Relay for Life.

"Cancer may have taken her body," Fisk said. "But it couldn't take Tori away from us. She, and all the others others that are gone now, are always in our hearts never to be forgotten."

Fisk spoke to the 999 walkers assembled in front of Enmon's posters, and told them that they are the reason a cure will be found.

"Every lap you walk, that is one more nail in cancer's coffin," she said. "Every dollar you donate, that is one more nail in cancer's coffin. 'Never give up, never surrender.' That is my goal until cancer is no more than just a word in the history books."

And as the cancer survivors made the first lap to kick off the relay, with memories of Enmon and of their other friends and loved ones in their hearts, Tori made yet another survivor lap.

"This time, she made it on streets of gold," Fisk said.