Registration for the annual Relay for Life fundraiser is open, the Bermuda Cancer and Health Centre has announced.
The National Sports Centre’s North Field will be transformed into a “family-friendly electric atmosphere” with entertainment and activities, the centre said on its Facebook page.
Attendees will also have the chance to celebrate the memories of loved ones lost to cancer.
Teams can register by April 15 for a $10 fee before it increases to $15.
This year, the organisers aim to better the $642,205 sum that was raised by the end of the 2023 relay.
The amount was the highest annual, single-day total achieved since the event started in 2014.
At the close of 2023, a total of $858,793 was raised, which included year-round support.
The BCHC’s Relay for Life website noted that 97 per cent of funds go into the charity’s Equal Access Fund.
The fund ensures that everyone can use the centre’s health services for mammography, ultrasound, breast and prostate biopsies, and radiation therapy without a co-pay, regardless of their level of health insurance or ability to pay.
It said the remaining 3 per cent of the funds go to Global Relay for Life’s cancer control initiatives worldwide.
Between 2014 and 2017, a total of $3 million was raised through fundraising efforts, which the centre said made Relay For Life the largest BCHC donor, supporting a $10 million radiation therapy Initiative.
The event, which started in Bermuda in 2014, is aimed at raising awareness and garnering financial support to facilitate equal access to cancer prevention and early detection of the disease as well as treatment and support.
Members of teams — made up of 10 to 15 people — take turns to walk around a track for 24 hours, symbolising that cancer never sleeps.
Some groups set up themed campsites at the event and fundraising continues through donations. The organisers said contributions count towards the overall team fundraising goal.
