By Julie ConreyRecord Staff WriterAlthough this winter’s weather makes it hard to imagine walking around a track in shorts and a T-shirt, it doesn’t faze Lindsey Dieckman and Talia Scott. The two are counting on Warren County residents to dust off tennis shoes and open wallets to support the fight against cancer.Dieckman and Scott are co-chairs of this year’s American Cancer Society (ACS) Relay For Life. The event runs rain or shine from 6 p.m. Friday, June 6, to the early morning hours of Saturday, June 7, at Black Hawk Middle School, 702 Kuhl Road.The pair is on the hunt for relay teams that will have at least one person on the track at all times, and Warren County businesses that can donate money, goods or services to help raise funds for Relay For Life.They add that anyone can come out and participate in the “carnival like” atmosphere Relay For Life offers, including games, children’s activities, plenty of good food plus information about all kinds of cancers. “The more the merrier,” Scott said. “Anybody can be involved. Just come see what it is about.”The theme for this year’s event is “Colorful Rays of Hope.” According to the website www.choosehope.com, there are approximately 28 colors representing different forms of cancer. Each relay team will pick a color out of a hat and decorate a booth with that color. The team will come up with games and distribute information about that particular form of cancer.Dieckman and Scott have different reasons for taking on Relay For Life. Dieckman’s mother-in-law was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2010 and died of the disease in October 2012. Her mother is a breast cancer survivor. “Cancer is everywhere in my life. My hope is that my kids don’t have to deal with this,” she said.Scott has been involved in Relay For Life for six years. “I like to do good things,” she said. “Hopefully, eventually they will find a cure.”Warren County resident Sheila Gruenefeld is the immediate past co-chair of Relay For Life. She has personal experience with the disease. Gruenefeld was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2004, when she was 40 years old. “It took me completely by surprise,” she said. “I was thinking I had a problem and it would go away. I went to the doctor two or three days later and he immediately sent me to the emergency room. My oncologist calls me his fighter. Before surgery he told my husband that I would have about four years to live. It’s been 10,” she said. After surgery, 14 weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatment that caused her feet and hands to blister and peel, her oncologist told her she was in remission. “My oncologist never says cancer-free.”Gruenefeld has participated in Relay For Life for the last 14 years, and estimates she has raised at least $14,000 for ACS. “My own son is a lung and testicular cancer survivor and my father is a prostate cancer survivor.” Her grandparents passed away from the disease as did her brother-in-law. She also has two aunts in remission. “ACS is there for them and they do help,” Gruenefeld said. She encourages those whose lives that haven’t been affected by cancer to come to Relay For Life anyway. “Even if you don’t know someone with cancer, you can walk around the track at Relay For Life and see luminarias with names on them of people you know,” she said. Luminarias are lit in memory of those who died of cancer, plus survivors of cancer and those who currently fight the disease.She is currently co-chair of the survivor committee. Her job is to recruit survivors of the disease and their caregivers to participate in Relay For Life. “Caregivers are the reason survivors are there,” she said. Survivors who register with Relay For Life receive a free T-shirt. Caregivers receive a small gift.Alouise Marschel is also co-chair of the survivor committee. She’d like to see survivors turn out for Relay For Life and the Warren County community as well. “Spend the night with us and see what it’s all about,” she said. “We’re trying to raise funds for more research. They’ve come a long way but every time you turn around there is a different kind of cancer. There is no easy fix.”Dieckman and Scott hope to generate $70,000 from Relay For Life this year. Although there are no specific numbers as to how much money raised from the Warren County Relay For Life stays in Warren County, ACS served 64 Warren County residents in 2013, said Kanna Rook, ACS Specialist, Relay For Life, in an email conversation. Services included but were not limited to overnight accommodations; free housing for cancer patients who travelled to St. Louis for treatment; breast prosthesis; wigs; transportation gas cards; phone calls and personal visits to breast cancer patients or those facing a breast cancer diagnosis; a support group for men who have had or are facing a prostate cancer diagnosis; personal health managers and distribution of cancer information.The average cancer diagnosis rate for Warren County is 158 people per year, Rook said.To volunteer, donate or for information about how to form a team for Relay For Life, call Lindsey Dieckman at 636-297-7334 or Talia Scott at 636-235-2558.Dust off tennis shoes, open wallets for Relay For Life