Relay for Life Boosts Visibility With Ad Campaign

Holding a smoke-tinged fire helmet, Brian Waterson, a 13-year veteran of the Port Washington Fire Department, posed on the dock at Louie's as a photographer snapped photo after photo.

A cancer survivor, Waterson is one of the faces of an upcoming ad campaign for Port Washington's annual Relay for Life. The campaign features Port Washington cancer survivors, putting a local face on a global health crisis.

Waterson, 31, missed a year of work battling testicular cancer with months of chemotherapy and three surgeries.

"I wouldn't want to see anyone go through what I went through," Waterson said. "So if there is a way I can encourage people to catch cancer early, I'll do it."

The ad campaign is set to run in the Port Washington News and on posters throughout town. The campaign is the pro bono creation of local graphic design and marketing firm Headlights Creative.

Headlights owner and creative director Michelle Shain crafted the ads with an eyes towards humanizing the disease. "I hope that people will look at the ads, see a friendly face, see someone they can relate to," Shain said. "I hope the ads inspire people to want to help."

Shain collaborated with Port Washington-based portrait and events photographer Danny Weiss to shoot the campaign. Weiss also waived his fee for his work.

Port's annual Relay for Life is slated for June 19 at Sousa Elementary School. The fundraiser generates money for cancer research, education, advocacy and patient services. More than $1 million has been raised in Port Washington over the past eight years; in 2009, the event raised $152,000.

Elyssa Slutzky is another face in the ad campaign. A lawyer, mother-of-four and triathlete, Slutzky was diagnosed with breast cancer while training for the grueling Iron Man triathlon. Her diagnosis derailed her triathlon plans, but not her training.

"I ran, I biked and swam," Slutzky said. "I wasn't running pretty but I was running. I'd go for a run and then throw up but I kept at it." Nine months after completing treatment, Slutzky crossed the Iron Man finish line.

Slutzky has participated in Relay since her diagnosis in 2004. "Any type of campaign that helps promote the fight against cancer is something I enjoy doing," Slutzky added.

Relay for Life event co-chairs Nora Johnson, Lee Anne Vetrone-Timothy and Beth Weisburd hosted an April 13 kick-off party at Sullivan's Quay that raised $610. To date, Relay's 18 teams have raised $15,422. Teams can continue to register and raise money up until the mid-June event.