It's that time of year again. Not graduation. Not Father's Day. Not the end of school. Two events this month mark the passing of June just as much as those celebratory occasions: Relay for Life. The 24-hour-walk-a-thon for cancer research takes place Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6 in Ellicott City and June 19 and 20 in western Howard County.

Teams set up campsites and walk all night to raise money for the American Cancer Society and to let long-lost friends and family know they have not been forgotten.

The event draws people young and old who become team captains, shedding light on a dark disease.

Here, a glimpse of some of the participants and why they do what they do. The common thread, says one team captain, "everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer."

GEA Walkabouts

The GEA Walkabouts are led by Jean Maliuat, of Ellicott City, who is two months shy of her 71st birthday.

Maliuat leads her company-sponsored team of 11 coworkers from the Columbia-based engineering firm, GEA Process Engineering Inc. They will be participating in the Relay for Life at Hammond High School Friday and Saturday, June 5 and 6.

"They support us all the way," she said, noting the company provides a tent for the team's campsite, as well as hamburgers and hot dogs for the late-night munchies.

Maliuat also helps to serve food at the survivor's dinner held the night before the relay begins.

"I do think we need to find a cure for cancer, and it's going to take a lot of money," she said. "And I've lost friends ... "

Team members have raised money through raffles for everything from an extra day off work to the opportunity to wear jeans and flip flops to work.

"In years past, we have also had a getaway for two for a weekend to raffle off, but times are a bit tough and we have not been able to get any of those this year."

They've also collected used and broken cell phones, which are shipped off to Cellular Phone which keeps them out of landfills and in return, makes a donation to the American Cancer Society for every 50 phones collected.

There is something special about Relay for Life, says Maliuat, who has been participating for several years."

"There is the remembrance part of it, remembering people who have gone before you, but also a sense of happiness for the survivors," she said. "It's an emotional event, but we also like to make it fun, too. I do what I can, ya know?"

Team Sam

Sam Forman was 11 years old when he was diagnosed with brain cancer. The Glenwood teen, now 15, is the captain of Team Sam.

"I do this because it helps to raise money for people who have gone through what I have been through," he said. "And I hope more of them survive."

Forman endured nine months of clinical appointments, chemotherapy and surgeries. His courageous spirit inspired everyone around him, his mother, Paula Forman, said.

"Three years after the end of chemotherapy, he will join others who have inspired us and have survived cancer," his mother wrote in an essay on "Why I Relay" on the event's Web site at www.relayforlife.org/weaternhoward. "He will lead us as we walk through the night and into the world of hope."

Cancer and childhood do not mix and never will, Sam said.

"It's hard, especially for a kid," he said. "I was in the sixth grade and I was supposed to be getting used to middle school and instead I was getting used to chemotherapy. Half of the kids in my grade I didn't have any relationship with, because I was never there."

Today, the ninth-grader says he is "feeling great," and keeps busy playing rec baseball. Last fall, he ran cross country for Glenelg High School.

Joining him around the track will be a group of friends from school, a group of his sister Sarah's friends and a team of students from Glenelg High.

He's raised money for Team Sam through raffle sales for a quilt made by his mom, and sales of luminaria, the hallmark Relay for Life symbol which honors loved ones who have lost battles with cancer.

"In school, I am not usually the leader of a project," Sam said, but he has been enjoying his role as team captain for Team Sam and raising money for cancer research.

"It's nice to give that team inspiration," he said.

Support from family and friends is what helped him the most while he was sick, Sam said.

"That support was extremely important," he said. "It kept me going a lot of the time. Treatment wasn't exactly a walk in the park, so it was nice to have people behind me and that kept me going."

"It's a chance for us to give back," Paula Forman said. "Even though we did not partake in a lot the American Cancer Society has to offer, we did get a lot of help from our community and Glenwood Middle School and we want to support our community."

Bernice's Buddies

Bernice Rutledge is a 14-year-cancer survivor with a fighter's tenacity.

"You have to have a positive attitude," said Rutledge, 52. "You have to just keep going."

Rutledge used to jog in the ever-popular Koman Race for the Cure, but because of health issues related to her cancer returning, she finds the walker-friendly Relay for Life a better fit.

Last year, Rutledge's team of 50 friends, family and co-workers raised about $7,000 for cancer research. This year, her team of 21, has set a goal of $5,000 and Rutledge fully expects to surpass that.

Rutledge was 38 when her son bit her while nursing, a fluke event that led to a discovery and diagnosis of breast cancer. It has since mastacized to her bones and spread into her lungs.

"I am told I will never be totally free from it," she said.

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