ORANGE PARK – Over the years, Clay County residents who wanted to show their support for cancer survivors had to go to every corner of the county to do so.

Now, that’s no longer the case.

The American Cancer Society and local volunteers have consolidated the roughly five fundraiser events held across the county into one massive, Relay for Life event.

“It’s a lot more people and it’s a bigger, more fun event,” said Daniel Barkowitz of Fleming Island, social media manager for the event. “The more people you have, the more community involvement the better it is.”

Relay for Life remains the flagship fundraiser for the ACS. Its proceeds go toward funding treatment, research and prevention for cancer patients and survivors in their area. Although Clay County has shown strong support for the cause historically, with so many separate events per year, crowds and support began to dwindle.

The event’s consolidation aims to concentrate the entire county’s support into one precise event.

The relay, planned for Orange Park High’s track field April 22 at 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., has a little less than 60 days before it kicks off. Roughly 25 teams have signed up already, but the event’s architects hope to double that. The event is on track to raise more than $60,000. Their latest benchmark was $15,000.

“We’re still finding teams and there’s still lots of time to sign up for relay,” said Pam Mylrea, volunteer event lead. “When someone hears the words that you have cancer, it effects everybody.”

The event focuses on honoring caregivers and survivors with a victory lap and a meal. Barkowitz first walked the lap in memory of his mother in 2011. The next year, he walked the lap again, but this time as a survivor.

“Caro [My daughter] didn’t come to visit me in the hospital, her way of coping for the whole cancer thing was just to stay away – which I get – I completely get, your dad’s sick,” Barkowitz said. “When we walked the track in 2012, there was a survivor’s lap, the first lap. And she walked with me. The tears just streamed down her face. That was the first time she let herself be emotional.”

Barkowitz undoubtedly related to his daughter’s experience, because he endured the same with his mother. His mother died of pancreatic cancer in 2011, two weeks after the September 11 attacks.

Before her death, she participated in an experimental surgery at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The surgery was part of a study to determine whether certain individuals have a genetic propensity to certain kinds of cancer.

It would be eight years later, far after the death of his mother, that Barkowitz would learn about the study’s results. Researchers discovered Barkowitz carries Lynch Syndrome, using, in part, samples collected from his mother.

Lynch Syndrome is a genetic condition that carries a high risk of colon cancer as well as other cancers. Barkowitz later contracted colon cancer, but because of the discovery of Lynch Syndrome and required yearly screenings for a catalogue of cancers, Barkowitz caught it before it reached stage one.

He credits fundraising efforts such as Relay for Life for playing a role in funding research that saves lives like his.

“It’s the emotional connection really. It’s a community of people who care about cancer. Cancer changed my life. That said, I still have the life that I had before but my life is forever changed as a result, I know that,” he said.

His family fundraising team, ‘Pirates of the Cure-ibbean,’ is halfway to its $1,000 goal this year.

“Oh, they’re horrible,” Barkowitz said, referring to the puns they use for their team names. His current team name is certainly better than his first, ‘No sense of tumor.’

To raise money, the Barkowitz family brainstormed with some friends and came up with ‘flocking.’ Essentially, someone will donate to the Barkowitz team, and, under cover of night, the Barkowitz family will inundate a house of the donator’s choosing with purple flamingoes. The homeowner can then pay to move the flamingoes to another house.

And although he has a since of humor about the whole thing, the mission carries with it grave importance.

“God forbid something happens to me, there’s research that can actually help prolong my life,” he said. “What we’re doing is not just fighting for ourselves, but fighting for the next generation.”