BOUNTIFUL -- Friday at 6 p.m., cancer survivors will walk the track at Viewmont High School -- inaugurating this year's South Davis Relay for Life. Various teams of walkers representing families, organizations and businesses will follow -- taking turns throughout the night, wrapping up about 10 a.m. Saturday. Sponsors will "finance" their walks, the donated funds going to support cancer research within the state. The whole effort, and others to follow soon in Layton and Kaysville, are to benefit cancer victims such as Sharla Borrowman of Bountiful.

She was first diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, T-cell in January of 1997 -- the middle of the young woman's junior year of high school in El Paso, Texas.

"What emotions didn't I go through?" Borrowman recalls now, eight years later. "I was sort of in shock, which manifested itself in a kind of naivete. I simply had no clue what I was in for."

Of her physician's response to the question, "How bad is it?" she remembers him "telling me the lump I had found in my neck was cancerous and that we needed to do further testing immediately to determine what type of cancer it was."

Interestingly, she recalls not being scared at all. "I just accepted the information matter-of-factly, without any apparent emotion. It wasn't until later when I had to go in for the biopsy that I started to get nervous."

That mostly had to do with concerns about the surgery.

"Then later," Borrowman says, "as I tried to hide the scar on my neck from my classmates and friends I was nervous about anyone noticing and asking questions. I just wasn't ready to let anyone else know yet."

A teacher asking about it in front of the whole class forced the issue, and it was later determined she had to go to a cancer center as an emergency case.

"At that point, I was not really scared for my life. I was scared of what might be involved in treatment and healing me, but I knew I would not die," she said.

Telling her fellow cheerleaders in a special meeting brought "surprise and happiness from all the support and encouragement received. I also felt joy, relief, and so much gratitude at the declaration of remission, one month after starting treatment."

While thankful for that, she said, "The huge change in my life and in my abilities was still something I had to deal with. I felt frustrated very often with my lack of energy and felt like I just wanted to be 'normal' again.

"I was overjoyed when the day finally came that I had my last treatment," Borrowman said. "It was like finally shaking of this huge, loathsome burden. And yet, I was sort of sad to have to close the book on that part of my life because there was no more need to go to the hospital or treatment center, to see my nurses and friends. I missed that because it had been such a huge part of my life for two-and-a-half years.

"I had grown to love the others, the way I had been so lovingly cared for and supported." She later obtained her bachelor's degree in psychology and master's in social work.

Her treatment meant being very sick, nauseated and weak, she said. The support of many, from family and friends and others, was a major boost to her success at overcoming it, she said.

Borrowman said positives from the cancer include "becoming fiercely independent and learning how to accept help and love from others better.

"I learned how much good there is in the world and how important it is to live each day to the fullest, giving the best of ourselves that we can."

Sharla Borrowman has been cancer free for nine years.

Help fight for the cure for Sharla and thousands of others by supporting this weekend's Relay for Life. For more information, call 383-1077 or visit the Web at www.southdavisrelayfor life.com.

tbusselberg@davisclipper.com