The driving force behind bringing the Relay for Life cancer fundraiser to Drumheller, passed away peacefully last Thursday in Drumheller. 34-year-old Tanya Howard’s legacy of a loving mother, wife, friend and caring nurse will live on. Her gift of moving a community into action to battle cancer at the Relay for Life after making her own battle very public, will never be forgotten by hundreds that grew to know and love her, and by probably thousands more whodidn’t have the chance to meet her. “Relay was never about her,” her husband Darrin told The Mail. “It was about people coming together for a common goal, to find a cure for all cancers. It was a time to hope and to have strength that there was a cure for having cancer. “Tanya always said, ‘a hug cannot cure cancer, but it can heal you in a way no drug can.’” Tanya grew up in Rockyford and received her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Red Deer College. Her career took her to the Peter Lougheed Intensive Care Unit in Calgary, and a practicum in Yellowknife, before she settled back in the Drumheller area to start a family with husband Darrin Howard. Together they raised three sons, Joel, Matthew and Mitchell.
Relay For Life take somber tone as event's inspiration passes
The driving force behind bringing the Relay for Life cancer fundraiser to Drumheller, passed away peacefully last Thursday in Drumheller. 34-year-old Tanya Howard’s legacy of a loving mother, wife, friend and caring nurse will live on. Her gift of moving a community into action to battle cancer at the Relay for Life after making her own battle very public, will never be forgotten by hundreds that grew to know and love her, and by probably thousands more whodidn’t have the chance to meet her. “Relay was never about her,” her husband Darrin told The Mail. “It was about people coming together for a common goal, to find a cure for all cancers. It was a time to hope and to have strength that there was a cure for having cancer. “Tanya always said, ‘a hug cannot cure cancer, but it can heal you in a way no drug can.’” Tanya grew up in Rockyford and received her Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Red Deer College. Her career took her to the Peter Lougheed Intensive Care Unit in Calgary, and a practicum in Yellowknife, before she settled back in the Drumheller area to start a family with husband Darrin Howard. Together they raised three sons, Joel, Matthew and Mitchell.
