CORONA DEL MAR TODAY

Third-Grader Will Join Survivors Lap of Local Relay For Life

Harbor View Elementary third-grader Grant Burgoyne can’t wait for this year’s Relay For Life, a cancer awareness walk and fundraiser scheduled for mid-May. But unlike a lot of kids who want to walk for friends or family members with cancer, Grant will start off the Relay as a member of the Survivors Lap.

“I had cancer,” he said. “And I really, really want to do this.”

Grant, now 9, was one day shy of his third birthday when his family learned his diagnosis: unilateral retinoblastoma, cancer of his left eye that led to surgery and six months of chemo.

“I remember it pretty well,” Grant said. “The part I mostly remember is when I had my first shot, and I just ran out of the room.”

Grant Burgoyne, then 3, during chemotherapy. Photo courtesy of Mary Delahanty

The 24-hour Relay will take place at the Newport Harbor High School Track on May 16. Some families set up tents on the field and stay all night; others walk for an hour or so. Last year, 1,200 people participated including several Harbor View students. At 9 p.m., the event features lighting of luminarias, which you can buy for $10 in memory of someone with cancer.

Harbor View parent Kim Miller, who is organizing the Harbor View team, said she was proud of Grant. “I think his willingness to share his experience will be an incredibly relatable inspiration for all our kids and our families,” Miller said. “Any disease can seem like a ‘won’t happen to us’ thing, until you see it hit so close to home, to somebody just like the rest of us. To have him participate in the Survivors Lap, and everybody else, will arm us all with hope for everyday challenges, not to mention in case our families have to face cancer as he and his family have.”

Harbor View’s goal is to raise $3,000 for the American Cancer Society, with $100 raised so far. Lincoln Elementary School and Corona del Mar High School also will have teams at the Relay. For information on how to participate or donate, visit Relay for Life’s local website.

Grant’s mother, Mary Delahanty, said she was thrilled that the school would have a team in the Relay, not only to raise money but to give Grant a chance to stand up and be proud of surviving his disease. “He was asking me yesterday why did it have to happen to him,” Delahanty said. “I told him that as rotten as it was for him, he was fortunate because some children get cancers that are very difficult to cure.”

Cancer also is a disease that is with its victims 24 hours a day, Miller said, which is why the Relay is symbolically a 24-hour race.

Grant said he’s looking forward to his teachers, principal and friends uniting to fight cancer, which remains a part of his daily life. “It’s kind of hard, and it’s always there,” he said.

Grant Burgoyne, left, cleaned the beach with his classmates at Harbor View Elementary to celebrate Earth Day.