UPDATED Gallery: Cancer Walk Draws Hundreds to Albertville

"I'm looking forward to many more birthdays." 

That was the sentiment set forth by survivor Jan Heierdahl, who is still fighting the breast cancer doctors discovered spreading in her more than five years ago. 

Friday night, hundreds gathered to walk in rememberance of those who had lost the fight and those who were still fighting. 

Despite an onslaught of mosquitoes at dusk and severe storms, the track stayed full with those on a mission to walk a certain number of laps, and those who strolled an scoped out the designs on the hundreds of luminarias around the circuit. 

The night was cut short by lightning, but the message was clear. 

"When people turn out like this to walk, you don't feel so alone as you go through treatments or sit in doctors' offices. This is amazing," said Joy Clyne, Heierdahl's cousin and fellow cancer fighter, also facing breast cancer.