Fighting Cancer, Two Stoughton Moms Taking Part in Relay for Life

Stoughton moms Theresa Stanley and Tracy NewBorn became acquainted with one another when their daughters became best friends back in kindergarten at the . 

Their daughters, now 10 years old, are no longer their only common bond.

Theresa and Tracy now share the unfortunate task of facing cancer head-on.

In fact, they were diagnosed just months apart from one another.  Tracy received her diagnosis of breast cancer last June and in October Theresa learned of her kidney cancer. 

Tracy explains, “When I was diagnosed Theresa was always emailing me positive things, then when she was diagnosed it was such a shock.” 

A visibly emotional Theresa said “we really became close.”

While the two fought their battles, they found “the outpouring of support from family and friends outstanding,” Theresa said. 

Tracy spoke of the support she has received from her Stoughton neighbors. "The way they made meals, drove our kids to school, it was amazing."

“We know that the American Cancer Society supports people who aren’t lucky enough to have had the support we had...We want to pay our blessings forward.”

With that in mind Theresa and Tracy formed team "T-N-T" with Tricia Maher (Tracy's sister) and Mary Gagnon. The quartet will be participating in the American Cancer Society's 2012 Relay For Life of Greater Norwood, which takes place June 15 and 16 at Walpole High School.

“Tracy was training for the three day [cancer] walk and was getting blisters...so [we] tried something a bit more doable,” Tracy’s sister Tricia Maher said.

It was the fourth member of the team, Mary Gagnon, who sparked the idea for participating in the Relay for Life, which according to its website, is an "overnight relay-style event [where] teams of people camp out around a track [and] members of each team take turns walking around the track for the duration of the event."

It's an inspirational fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

Tracy describes Mary as the dynamite in “Team T-N-T."

“It was Mary’s idea," she said. "Mary’s family has a history of breast cancer and was familiar with the walk."

“Team T-N-T” will be joined by their children at Walpole High School to take turns walking on June 15 from 6 p.m. until the following morning at 11 am. 

The team has set an ambitious fundraising goal and has already raised more than $5,500 as of June 11.

To donate to Team T-N-T or for more information on the upcoming cancer relay visit http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY12NE?team_id=1170685&pq=team&fr_id=39735 or contact Theresa at tstanley185@verizon.net.