Gabrielle Butler was at Friday’s Relay for Life, but she was unable to take her walk.

Gabrielle, 23, suffers from sarcoma, a type of cancer that develops from certain tissues, like bone or muscle, and had just completed a treatment hours before the relay began. Her father, Milton Butler Sr., wearing a pink T-shirt with the words “Trust and believe my daughter will beat cancer,” her stepmother Vivian Butler, and her friends did the walking for her. Gabrielle’s mother is Donna Douglas.

“She was diagnosed with cancer six years ago, when she was 17,” Milton Butler said. “She started chemotherapy when she was 18, on her birthday, June 7 at the (M.D. Anderson) Cancer Center in Houston (Texas). We brought her cake to the hospital. The doctor said, ‘We’ve got to start it now.’ She’s been fighting it since.”

“It’s just awesome to see all these people here walking for cancer,” Gabrielle said. “It’s wonderful to see them doing this. I’m doing better I have two more radiation treatments and then they’ll do a CAT scan to see how I’m doing.”

Gabrielle was one of an estimated 400 people who spent the evening at the Vicksburg High School stadium, walking, setting up tents and offering different foods and games to raise money for the American Cancer Society and cancer research.

The warm weather made the evening comfortable, the music serenaded, and a late-evening frozen T-shirt contest stirred up the crowd.

“We’ve got 26 teams participating tonight,” said Megan McBeth, Relay for Life community manager. “Our goal is $61,738, and we’re about $13,000 away from that. We hope we can pick that up tonight.”

The event had two presenting sponsors, the Central Mississippi Chevrolet dealers and The Vicksburg Post.

The teams lined the sideline of the Vicksburg High School football field with multicolored tents, many accented with the smoke and aroma of hamburgers, hot dogs and sausage on the grill. All had a reason for being there — either someone on the team or a relative survive or die from cancer.

At Believers of Faith Cancer Organization, team participants were also telling people visiting their tent about the organization’s assistance program.

“It was started by my wife, Carolyn Butler, who had cancer,” Charles Butler said. “We are a support group. We’ll help carry patients to chemo, get them gas cards so they can go, provide counseling, we’ll come in and prepare meals for the family and the caregiver. The goal, he said, is to provide emotional support for the patient.

“Chemo only does part it,” he said. “A lot is on the patient. They have to fight it and be aggressive.”

Next to Believers of Faith, Mario Jones was cooking sausage and hamburgers for the Warren County Tag Team, a group of county employees.

Jones’ wife, County Tax Collector Antonia Flaggs-Jones, said the group was organized after her bout with breast cancer. “We got the staff together and people in the Courthouse contributed; everybody rallied together,” she said. “I was lucky. I had the benefits to get treatment. Many people don’t. We got the whole Courthouse together to do this. I’m now in remission.”

At the Hawkins United Methodist tent, Susan Athow and Carolyn Allen were getting the snow cone machine going.

“We’re selling snow cones now,” she said, as she handed Allen a cup filled with ice. “I’m a survivor. I had skin cancer. My husband Bob had colon cancer 14 years ago. We walk for him. This is the first year the church has participated.”

One of the younger survivors was Mario Gray Jr., 3, who had a rare form of cancer that affected hi eye.

“His eye was removed when he was three,” his mother, Lauren Forte, said.

His supporters formed Team M J with a play on words that went for all the survivors who participated Friday and provided encouragement for patients like Gabrielle.

“Eye survived.”