Cancer has taken an uncle. Cancer has taken friends. Cancer has taken the loved ones of my friends, my co-workers.

Cancer has taken far too many, far too much.

What have I ever done to take the fight to cancer?

That answer is simple: I Relay.

For more than a decade, regardless of the community in which I have lived, I have made it a point to participate in the annual Relay for Life.

This Friday evening, I will keep that effort alive, as I — and more than a dozen others from The Vicksburg Post — will join cancer survivors, family members of those who have lost loved ones and friends to the disease, and so many others, in a continued effort to battle and defeat cancer.

Relay for Life — regardless of where it is held — is a time to celebrate those who have fought and won their fight against cancer. It is a time to mourn those we have lost and to recommit ourselves to the singular goal of ending cancer’s reign as a horrific disease.

Since last year’s Relay for Life, there have been those very close to us who have died from one variation or another of cancer. There are those many of you will never know and those we all know very well.

Although I have not personally battled cancer, there are those in my family who have. Although I have not personally battled cancer, there are dear friends of mine who have — some who have won their fight, others who have fallen.

In a world and in a society that can claim the near elimination of such diseases as polio, measles and the like, we have shown the ability to defeat those diseases that so threaten our society.

Cancer is not an adversary that one person or one group can defeat alone. That is why such efforts, like Relay for Life, are so crucial to winning this battle.

In this fight, we are able to do so much more together, as a community. As Aristole said, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

The Warren County Relay for Life has set a fundraising goal of just shy of $70,000. It would be great to see that number reached, but I know this community has so much more in it than just $70,000. This is a disease that has touched every single person in our community and it should be one that we all take an interest in defeating.

Regardless the contribution, large or small, it is the giving that matters, it is the coming together that will make a difference. Remember, 100 pennies makes a dollar.

Cancer attacks everyone equally. It does not care your economic standing, your level of education or your religion. Cancer does not care if you are black or white, Hispanic or Asian.

Let us come together — let us relay together — and take that next step to defeating cancer once and for all.

Tim Reeves is publisher of The Vicksburg Post. Reach him at tim.reeves@vicksburgpost.com.