Pascack Valley Relay For Life Raises $218,000 For American Cancer Society

TOWNSHIP OF WASHINGTON, N.J. — Zack Latteri would have been proud.

His team walked for hours. They walked all night. They walked for Latteri because he couldn't.

Latteri was captain of The Class of 2018 team at the annual Relay for Life at Westwood Regional Junior/Senior High School Saturday afternoon to Sunday morning. The team brought in more than $28,200, the most of any team.

Latteri lost his 5-and-a-half year battle against leukemia last July. He was 15.

"Zack was an inspiration to all of us," the team said on its Relay webpage. "He was a fighter who lived every moment with the people who meant the most to him, his family and friends."

Nearly 80 teams raised almost $219,000 for the American Cancer Society. The participants included cancer survivors, their caregivers, and the relatives and friends of people who died from the insidious disease.

The money brought in will be donated to the American Cancer Society. It will help fund cancer research initiatives that have saved the lives of 14 million cancer survivors. People camped out in tents near the track at the all-night event.

The event symbolized the ongoing fight against cancer. At least one person walked around the track from 4 p.m. Saturday to 7 a.m. Sunday.

The walking began at 6:30p.m. when cancer survivors and their caregivers walked a lap around the track.

A candlelight Luminaria ceremony was held at 10 p.m. Personalized notes were written on white bags and a candle was placed inside each one. The bags were placed around the track’s perimeter, lighting the path people were walking.

Latteri's team said the fight isn't over.

"He wanted no one to go through what he had gone through with the hope of one day finding a cure," the team said online. "We will continue to fight for Zack."