The following article is the third in a series of monthly stories about participants in the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Hampshire County fundraiser, which this year takes place June 17 to 18 in Look Park in Florence.
For the past 10 years, Nancy Pimental, 60, has been known as “Ms. Pickle” at the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Hampshire County.
Along with her husband, Michael Russell, 59, Pimental, who has had Hodgkin’s disease and breast cancer, has brought joy and encouragement to fellow volunteers through her unbreakable spirit — and her bright-green plastic pickle, which has become a tradition at the relay. At the event, team members take turns walking on a temporary track to raise money for cancer research and programs.
Pimental and Russell man a booth at the relay, where participants have a choice to either carry the giant pickle for a lap around the track and receive a free real half pickle to eat or pay $1 and get a whole dill.
“I believe you could actually say that the relay wouldn’t be the same without the pickle there,” said Tom McCusker, a longtime leader on the organizational committee for the event.
Even though they live across the state in Lincoln, Pimental and Russell are widely known and loved by relay veterans here, which explains why they were named Honorary Survivor and Caregiver this year.
Russell is originally from Hadley, graduating from the University of Massachusetts in 1979. The couple became involved in the Hampshire County relay in 2006 with family and friends as part of the team called Pickle Power. They have been participants ever since.
While they have not fielded a full relay team since Pimental’s stroke in 2011, they have continued to raise money during the event through their pickle booth.
A portion of the funds from last year’s pickle laps went toward a new Remembrance Tent, which will make its debut at this year’s event.
The pickle tradition actually started in Lincoln, where Pimental and Russell have lived for 30 years. For that town’s 250th anniversary, Pimental volunteered for the celebration committee. Members decided to create a historic bus tour, calling it “Pickles to Pastures.”
Wanting to make the tour a little more fun, Pimental got in touch with a pickle company in North Carolina about purchasing pickle props. A few days later, an inflatable pickle over three feet long arrived at her doorstep.
That leftover pickle prop and Pimental’s connection with the Mount Olive Pickle company resulted in donations of real pickles for the relay fundraising and a mascot of sorts for the event. “It’s not everyday one see’s a 40 inch pickle,” Russell said.
Pimental has retained her lighthearted spirit despite the personal difficulties she has endured over the past three decades.
She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease 36 years ago, which led to an exploratory abdominal surgery in which her spleen was removed.
“When Nancy woke up, and I told her she had Hodgkin’s, she said ‘Well, thank God it’s not cancer,” Russell recalls, noting that his wife didn’t realize Hodgkin’s was, in fact, a type of cancer.
Pimental underwent a two-course radiation process, which took a toll on her body. Treatments left her tired and nauseous and she lost weight, Russell said. But, he said, she persevered through the pain and the disease was in remission.
Then, 18 years later, Pimental learned she had breast cancer. Because she was helping her father-in-law who was undergoing treatment for esophageal cancer at the time, she hid her own illness until it became apparent she would need treatment, Russell recalled.
Pimental said the occurrence of a second cancer was likely caused by the radiation she underwent for Hodgkin’s. This time she underwent chemotherapy to reduce the chances of the breast cancer returning.
About five years ago, Pimental suffered a heart attack and a stroke within a few days of one another. She said doctors told her those health issues were also likely caused by radiation.
Initially she was unable to move her right arm or speak. But through therapy she has managed to regain some of her movement and strength. She even took up singing to help in rehabilitating her voice.
It was Pimental who originally came up with the idea of the Remembrance Tent which has been a feature at the annual relay for the past 10 years.
“Featuring candles, remembrance stones and poems, it’s meant to be a quiet place for reflecting and remembering those that have battled cancer,” Russell explained. Inside, participants can write down a memory to be displayed in the tent.
“The older tent was a generic canopy, with homemade sides made out of purple shower curtains,” Russell said.
The new tent is an actual 8-by-8-foot tent with a clear window on one side. Slightly smaller than the original, it makes for a cozier setting, he said.
Pimental and Russell say they enjoy the chance to help others that the relay provides. Pimental has created her own name for the event: Relay For Love.
Every year, the Honorary Survivor and Caregiver are given an award that speaks to who they are and their role in Relay For Life. This year, at the kick-off event for Relay in February, Pimental and Russell were given the “Star Pickle” award.
After Russell and Pimental made their Honorary Survivor and Caregiver presentations at February’s kick-off, they began to exit the stage when the song “Shake it Off” by Taylor Swift began to play over the speakers. While descending the stairs, Nancy began to dance, sending the crowd into a roar of applause.
To learn more, volunteer or donate, visit www.relayforlife.org/hampshirecountyma or email hamprelay@gmail.com
Molly Ahern is a student at the University of Massachusetts. She assists with publicity for Relay For Life of Hampshire County.