There was a bake sale, a crafts sale, games, bouncy castles, a car show and two races on Saturday morning for Christal VanLandingham Gregory, a Louisville woman who has battled cancer for a year.
The benefit began with a 5K run and a one mile fun run at the Louisville Coliseum. The event also featured a car show and other inside activities for participants.
Gregory and her family came to the event, as did many others to provide the family with financial and emotional support.
Gregory was diagnosed with breast cancer on May 31, 2016. It has almost been a year since the diagnosis, and her doctor had informed her that a year was around the amount of time her battle with cancer would take.
"I have chemo next Friday, March 17, and after that I'll have four left," Gregory said. "After that, I have the reconstruction I have to do, but other than that, I feel fine. We're just counting them down, right now."
Gregory was able to participate in and finish the 5K run that was held at 8 a.m. on Saturday. She and her friend, Jennifer Burchfield, also from Louisville, were running buddies.
Many people were involved in putting the event together. Churches in Louisville partnered with one another to put everything together. Dinah Smith, who was with one of the participating churches, worked on putting the races together.
"We promoted everything through our local newspaper, through businesses in town and from social media," Smith said. "I love that the community comes out and shows their support for people that are fighting cancer. That is the big thing."
Smith knows the impact that cancer has on those who battle it and their families. She said she lost three aunts and her mother to cancer, and it means a lot to her to see everything people have done for the Gregory family.
"Christal said she didn't know how she could pay back the people that are doing this, and I told her that we don't expect that," Smith said. "Everybody knows somebody that has been affected. It is just great when the community comes together to support them and show that they are not fighting alone, because we are all in that fight together."