Months of fund-raising that started in November culminated on Friday when 600 volunteers got together at the Southampton Town Recreation for the inaugural Relay
For Life of the South Fork. “The thing about Maria’s story is, she has really inspired the whole Southampton High School,” said Ms. Wood, a Water Mill resident. “She spoke at the kick-off and there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.” A biology teacher at Southampton High School, Ms. Metzger was diagnosed with breast cancer is May after she told her doctor that she and her husband, Greg, planned to have a baby. The doctor advised she have a mammogram first and that mammogram uncovered the cancer. She later discovered that she carries a gene that makes her more likely to develop breast and ovarian cancer. Ms. Metzger left the high school in June, a few weeks before classes and final exams were over, to have surgery. “Last year, on my last day of work, all of the students wore pink in my honor,” Ms. Metzger said. “They handed out the pink ribbons and the bracelets, and they had like a little party for me.” She returned to work in September, even though she was undergoing chemotherapy and radiation treatments. The students had a second “pink day,” in Ms. Metzger’s honor this school year, this time to raise money for Relay For Life.
Ms. Metzger named her relay team, composed of both youth and adults, “Age Doesn’t Matter.” The name eluded to the fact that cancer affects people of all ages, she said.