By Brenda Sexton

The Courier-Herald

Friday and Saturday will mark Annie Runland's third American Cancer Society fund-raising Relay For Life walk since last year's Enumclaw event - her second since September.

The Washington State University sophomore, who is studying architecture and interior design, walks with the Lucarelli family and friends' team to support Tony, an Enumclaw High student who has been battling cancer for a number of years.

At last year's Enumclaw walk, Annie and Lucarelli carried the survivors banner together.

Annie, now 19, was diagnosed with renal cell carcinoma, "a fancy name for kidney cancer," she said. Since her surgery, she has been cancer free. She walks to support others.

"I like meeting other people with cancer and hearing their stories," she said. "In Pullman, there were about 12 survivors, but I met a guy with the same cancer I have."

The chances of that, she said, are astronomical since her cancer is rare, or, at least, rare for her.

As an 18-year-old female, Annie didn't fit the profile.

"It's 50-year-old men who smoke that get it," she said.

"It wasn't a child's form of kidney cancer," Runland's mother Sarah said. Sarah also participates in the Relay For Life.

Annie's cancer took the family by surprise.

For some time, Sarah said, Annie had occasional abdominal pain, not a big deal. They figured since gall bladder problems ran in the family, maybe that was it.

Finally, they decided to get definite answers. What doctors found was a tumor.

"They were surprised I hadn't been in any pain," Annie said.

"She's just a trooper," Sarah said. "It was really scary for her and all of us."

Annie underwent surgery right away. After the surgery doctors announced the tumor was malignant, but hadn't spread. Annie was told she would not need chemotherapy or radiation.

But there is a 32 percent chance it will return and she goes back to the doctors every few months to have it checked.

"We try to stay positive," Sarah said. "But we still worry. Our hope is she'll never get it back."

Annie will join a number of cancer survivors in Friday evening's Enumclaw Relay For Life first lap. The survivors lap is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at the Enumclaw Public Library.

Brenda Sexton can be reached at bsexton@courierherald.com.