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| Jessica Janusch, Alison Arcement, Lenny Arcement, Dianne Janusch Arcement and Emily Arcement. (Courtesy photo) |
Editor’s note: An article on co-chairwoman Donyelle Allen will appear in next week’s edition.
Dianne Janusch Arcement and her American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Burleson 2010 co-chairwoman Donyelle Allen have something in common.
Both leaders have watched someone they love battle melanoma.
Arcement’s father, who has already fought prostate cancer, was diagnosed with skin cancer in November, not long after she accepted the co-chairwoman post for the local Relay.
This is not the first brush with cancer for Arcement, whose mother fought lung cancer in March 2007. Lung cancer and colon cancer run in her family.
Arcement first heard about Relay For Life in 2000, when her 4-year-old nephew, Destry Janusch, died of medulla blastoma brain cancer.
“The family was devastated,” Arcement said. “From that point on, I wanted to help fight cancer and find a cure.”
And she has. The financial consultant was a Relay For Life of Burleson team captain in 2002 and has been a captain and team member for at least five years.
She joined the Burleson steering committee in 2007 to learn the ropes as accounting chairman and became the accounting chairman for the 2008 Relay.
For 2010, she will be both accounting chairwoman and event co-chairwoman.
“I’ve always wanted to be an event co-chair,” Arcement said. “This is the first time in my life where I had the time and support from my family to take on this role. I couldn’t do anything like this before I married Lenny. He is my inspiration.”
Like her co-chairwoman, Arcement is frustrated by the number of people who have had to hear the words, “You have cancer.”
“I’ve seen so much suffering, and I’m just sick of it. I am not the type of person to ever give up. I am very strong willed so my mantra is ‘fight, fight, fight.’ I am extremely passionate about finding a cure, if not for our parents, family, and friends, we need to find one for our children and the next generations. We can’t give up.”
Arcement is excited about Burleson because it’s been her home for 16 years and new businesses are moving in all the time, and “we are an unusually active community. There is no other community like ours.”
Arcement and her husband have three daughters, 11-year-old Jessica Janusch, 16-year-old Emily Arcement and 17-year-old Alison Arcement.
She has worked in banking for 16 years and is treasurer of the Burleson Area Chamber of Commerce Ambassador club, vice-president and membership director for the Burleson Lions Club, and secretary for the Tarrant County Bankers Association.
Arcement said her contacts through banking and professional organizations will help her reach the goals she and Allen made.
Those goals are to have 115 Relay For Life teams; sell $4,000 in luminarias to honor and remember those who are fighting and have fought cancer; have $30,000 in sponsorships; have participation from 300 survivors; and net $240,000.
“I have a ton of enthusiasm and I want to fight even harder than before,” Dianne said.
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