2013 Relay: For Kabrina, It Was A Marathon And More

By Martin Henderson

For the 24 hours that make up the annual Relay for Life, there is nothing more reverent than the 60 minutes beginning at 9 o'clock on Saturday night.

That's when the Luminaria ceremony begins in Rancho Santa Margarita, when names are read of those who defeated cancer, and names are read of those who did not. 

That's when "HOPE" is spelled out in balloons, when candles become more important than cell phones. 

That's when a cancer story gets told.

This year that story was Kabrina Best Cressey's. She was 15 and vibrant at the 2012 Relay, a wonderful and inspirational memory 12 months later.

Robin Cheney, Kabrina's teacher at Rancho Viejo Montessori, addressed the crowd while Kabrina's photos flashed on a big screen during the nighttime ceremony that includes a candlelight walk.  

"Really, she was just one of those people who loved life," Cheney said, adding that Kabrina thought her "penchant for being a one-in-a-million statistic would take her far in Las Vegas or with winning lottery tickets."

• Click Main Story to see 104 photos (2:51)
• Tribute to Kabrina Cressey (5:00)
• Mayor Tony Beall's welcome speech (2:49)
• Cancer survivor Ryan Oddo's keynote speech (11:33)
• Walkers with reading of names, and Audrey Fankhanel performance (8:22)
  
• Video highlights, including the Marines' opening lap (2:28)

Kabrina, who would have been a junior in the fall at Tesoro High, had been a participant in the Relay for Life since 2008, the year she was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma. in 2009 she walked more than 60 laps, and in 2011 she walked 80, which is why Rancho Viejo School now hands out dog tags for the completion of that 79 laps—the equivalent of a traditional marathon.

But the treatment to beat her earlier cancer eventually resulted in the onset of leukemia in late 2011. She received a bone marrow transplant and surpassed the critical 100-day period—having apparently beaten cancer a second time. 

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The leukemia returned after the 2012 Relay in which she walked nearly 10 miles.

Six weeks after completing her fourth survivor lap—the one with purple-shirted survivors kicking off the Relay by walking the event's first lap—Kabrina had succumbed. She died Aug. 29. 

From the stage Saturday night, Kabrina's mother Karen, father Brian and brother Austin took their candles and began the process of lighting candles of those sitting in the darkness of the park's amphitheater.

"It was definitely different with the tribute being for my daughter instead of someone else," Karen Cressey said after scores of participants made the candlelight walk. "It's a great family time even though it's very sad for us. I thought it would be even more emotional for me personally, but it will probably hit me later."

By the time Sunday morning rolled around, the ship-shape Marines weren't the only ones who qualified for Kabrina's Marathon Club. Six civilians—all from the Rancho Viejo team running in her honor—also qualified: students Isabel Eisenberg (79 laps), Natalie Urrego (79); parent Candace Reinhart (79); and teachers Rick Warkentien (81) and Robin Cheney (81). 

A third student, Lauren Goldenberg, completed 100 laps. Lauren was a year ahead of Kabrina in school, just turned 17, and a day earlier had received her driver's license. But on this special weekend, it was all about walking. About putting in the laps. 

And the significance of Lauren walking 100 laps on behalf of Kabrina? After the 2012 Relay, Kabrina said it was her goal to walk 100 laps in 2013.

Through Lauren, she did it, too. In spirit.