TEUTOPOLIS – Cancer survivors, their support networks and the community raised over $40,000 for Effingham County’s Relay for Life through an online silent auction and a fundraising event last week in Teutopolis Community Park.
Some survivors shared their stories, including Blake McWilliams who fought pancreatic cancer in 2021.
McWilliams was living with his father in Effingham when he began to get sicker and sicker with each day.
“I’d wake up every day feeling like I had a hangover, even though I hadn’t drank any alcohol,” said McWilliams. “I was getting vertigo. I was dizzy. I was feeling like I was going to faint at times.”
He saw his doctor a few times, but his tests kept coming back clear. One night, he woke up with a sharp pain in his side, spurring him and his wife to go to the emergency room. Those tests also came back clear, so he was sent home with instructions for a liquid diet.
After about a year of getting weaker and doctors’ results not showing anything, McWilliams decided that he was going to get a referral from his doctor if it was the last thing he did. He was referred to Barnes Jewish Hospital, and they did an upper endoscopy where a neuroendocrine tumor in his pancreas was found.
In October 2021, McWilliams had surgery to remove his tumor and 75 percent of his pancreas and spleen.
“My story is what came after cancer, and I want you guys to understand that, as well,” said McWilliams. “If you’re still fighting, you have to keep pushing because your story is not over. It’s just getting started.”
McWilliams stressed that people with cancer need to be their own biggest advocate, and keep pushing forward.
This was Dan Flood’s first Relay for Life. He was diagnosed with stage two tongue cancer in February 2024, causing him to lose part of his tongue. During an eight-hour surgery, surgeons took a skin graft and an artery from his right forearm to replace some of his tongue that he lost. They also sewed his tongue to the right side of his mouth. This led to him needing a feeding tube for a few months; he couldn’t eat, drink or talk.
“They said they got it all, but my doctor said if they miss just a little bit, then we’d done all that for nothing,” said Flood. “He suggested I do radiation. So I did, and it was bad, real bad … You couldn’t sleep. You couldn’t get away from it.”
So, Flood did two months of radiation treatment, and he’s been cancer-free ever since.
Before his cancer diagnosis, Flood chewed tobacco, but his doctors told him they couldn’t definitively tell him the two were connected. However, he hasn’t chewed tobacco since.
“There’s a lot of people worse off than me. I mean, I can eat and everything,” said Flood. “I do anything I want to do, and there’s people that can’t, and they die. So, hey, I got a second chance, and I’m thanking Him.”
Along with supporting Relay for Life, Flood helps drive family members and neighbors to cancer treatment appointments because he was given a second chance.
“I just like to help people if they need help, encouragement and going over to radiation and the doctor,” said Flood.
Dianne Miller and Cheryl Croy – two breast cancer survivors – ran the face-painting booth, Colors of Hope. Miller and Croy took high school art class together, and wanted to give back. They both love children and painting.
In 2014, Miller got a mammogram that showed pre-cancerous cells, the type that transform into aggressive cancer overnight, she said.
“I just caught it before it caught me, so I’m praising God. You know, I never took care of myself… And finally decided to do a mammogram, and my whole life changed,” said Miller. “It’s a journey. It’s something that we went through, and we’re glad that that journey is over.”
Croy has attended Relay for Life events since 2018, but this was the first year she volunteered for the event.
“I just want to give back. The American Cancer Society is just very caring, and they want to help others,” said Croy. “Let (people) realize that it doesn’t have to be the end.”
2025 Miss Effingham County Fair Queen Krista Phillips and 2025 Junior Miss Effingham County Fair Queen Leah Ring were in attendance, and distributed medals to each of the survivors after their Survivor Lap around the park. No one close to either of them has been impacted by cancer, but the queens still wanted to show their support.
“I love how they have it now with all the pinwheels set up… in remembrance of all of the cancer fighters we had, and then just seeing all the survivors come back and walk,” said Phillips. “I really loved in the beginning speech that they said it’s just a big celebration of everybody that’s been fighting, and all the caregivers, as well, that’s been able to walk alongside with them.”
“Me and Leah both get to hand out medals at the end of the Survivor Walk today, and I think that will be really special, just to be able to honor all those people that have been fighting so hard because cancer is a big part of people’s life, and it can throw off a lot of different things,” Phillips continued. “So just being here to support them and to support the members of Effingham County is really special.”