“When the doctor told me I had cancer 22 years ago, I heard that as a death sentence,” Batten said Friday evening amid a crowd of cancer survivors wearing purple Johnston County Relay for Life shirts. “There are literally hundreds of people here today who heard that word, and they are still living. You’re either going to let it kill you, or you are going to fight it.”

About 3,000 people attended the 14th annual Relay for Life at Johnston Community College this past weekend. Nearly 100 teams signed up to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Some 6,000 luminarias lined the campus in salute to loved ones who beat cancer and those who lost their lives to the disease.

Batten’s life was forever changed when he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 23. He had chemotherapy for five days twice a month at Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro. After five months of chemotherapy, doctors had to remove dead tissue around an artery and take out lymph nodes in his abdomen.

His faith in God and support from family made Batten’s battle with cancer easier to overcome, Batten said. “I think it would be good for everybody to go to an oncology center just to see how good life is, because when you see the different people with the different kinds of cancer they have, it’s a real blessing to be able to leave,” he said.

For Stephanie Parker, taking part in this year’s Relay for Life had a new meaning. For the past 10 years, she had come to the event to support her father and grandmother, both diagnosed with cancer. But after she had a mammogram last year, Parker was diagnosed with breast cancer at age 43. She went to Rex Hospital for chemotherapy for three weeks and had a double mastectomy. She has been cancer-free for 10 months.

“It’s not a battle that I wanted, but I hold my head high,” said Parker, who was manning a booth for Bethel Original Freewill Baptist Church.

“I am glad to be here and know that the Lord is the reason for it.”

Breast cancer was not common in Parker’s family, so the news came as a surprise.

“I was just absolutely shocked,” she said.

“You never think it will be you. I think the day the doctor told me you could have knocked me over with a feather.”

Others battling cancer should not lose hope, Parker said. “Just keep the faith and know cancer is not a death sentence today,” she said.

“If I had to tell a woman something, I’d say go get your mammogram. If I can help one woman and tell them about early detection, it’s worth it.”