Bolingbrook Valentine's Day Dance to Benefit Relay for Life

Support the American Cancer Society and the Relay for Life of Bolingbrook with a Valentine's Dance. 

The dance will be held Feb. 16 at the Bolingbrook Golf Club. The event includes a four-course dinner, silent auction and DJ. Tickets are $90 per couple before Feb. 1 and $95 after. Single tickets are $55. All proceeds will benefit two Relay for Life teams: Save 2nd Base and Cancer Kickers. 

For tickets and more details, Cathy Kalnicky at (630)207-7483 or ckalnic@lumc.edu or Rich Johnson at (630) 248-2861 or RJ_relaybbrook@live.com. 

Catherine Kalnicky, a member of the Save 2nd Base team, has been organizing the event for the past eight months with Rich and Shireen Johnson, of the Cancer Kickers team. 

Kalnicky was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010. That was the same year she first participated in Relay.

"I was undergoing treatment, and I couldn't make it around the track," Kalnicky said.

She is now celebrating more than two years in remission. Last year, her team of 10 raised $1,000 for the American Cancer Society. She hopes to raise $3,000 this year. 

Kalnicky said she participates in Relay for her family, her three daughters and her husband, Bob. One daughter was a senior in college, one was 16 and the youngest was 10 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

"I saw how hard it was watching my family to learn about my diagnosis," Kalnicky said. "To watch them go through this -- that’s why I Relay now, so no one else will hopefully hear those words, 'You have cancer.'"

Kalnicky is a registered nurse and currently conducts medical research at Loyola University of Chicago. She started her career as an oncology nurse in 1984 and said she has seen first-hand just how far cancer treatment has come. 

"It was very eye-opening," she said. "The patients became our second family because they were in for two to three months for their first cycle (of treatment)." 

Although the American Cancer Society supports cancer research, the organization also supports people battling cancer, she said. ACS provides wigs, transportation and social workers to help those unable to afford treatment, among other resources.

Relay for Life of Bolingbrook will take place June 8 to 9 at the Bolingbrook Town Center, 375 W. Briarcliff Rd. 

The kick-off event will take place on Thursday, Feb. 28, from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Bolingbrook Golf Club. 

For more information, contact Lona Slaughter at lona.slaughter@cancer.org or check out www.relayforlife.org/BolingbrookIL.