The 2013 Middletown/Monroe Relay for Life campaign will get a boost from a woman who helped transform Lebanon’s relay campaign.

The goal for this year’s campaign is to have 30 teams participate in the Relay for Life event on May 4 and 5 at the former Americana Amusement Park, 5757 Hamilton-Middletown Road. The goal is to raise $74,000, which was announced at the recent kickoff event at Miami University Middletown’s Verity Lodge.

So far, the campaign has 13 teams, and its 38 participants have raised nearly $6,500 to the relay that’s designed to “celebrate survivors and remember those who have lost their battle,” said Kathy Popp, chairwoman of this year’s Middletown/Monroe Relay for Life campaign.

The Relay is an opportunity for “everyone to make a pledge to fight back against this disease that takes so much from so many, said Popp, a Realtor at Sibcy Cline in Lebanon who chaired that city’s Relay for Life campaign and helped raise more than $90,000 in 2011.

At the kickoff last week, Melissa Shultz, of Middletown, shared her story of being a stage-four two-time lung cancer survivor. It’s been a five-year battle.

“It’s along journey, it’s been a hard journey but I also consider it a blessing because it’s changed who I am, it’s made me a better person and it’s made me appreciate each and every day,” said Shultz, who had a genetic mutation that caused the cancer.

There will be an estimated 66,610 new cancer cases that will be diagnosed for this year, according to the American Cancer Society. The top three cancers estimated to be newly diagnosed in 2013 are lung cancer, female breast cancer and prostate cancer.

Predictions estimate that will be 41.8 percent of the 2013 cases diagnosed.

Popp became involved with the American Cancer Society and the Lebanon Relay for Life after her former sister-in-law, Jamie Weyers, 37, died from complications from glioblastoma, or brain cancer.

“During that time, you find out there are many, many, many people out there who have battled or who are battling cancer,” Popp said. “And now I don’t think there’s anybody who hasn’t been touched by it in some way or form.”

For information about the 2013 Middletown-Monroe Relay for Life, call 888-227-6446, ext. 4219.