MARYSVILLE — The Marysville Tulalip Relay For Life not only showed its support for those who have fought cancer, but also offered avenues for others to contribute year round.

Relay’s return to Asbery Field saw its 23 teams of 218 participants raise $65,592.85 and counting on June 27-28. That was down from last year’s total of roughly $84,000.

Marysville’s Leroy Erxleben shared how he became a “Road to Recovery” driver for the American Cancer Society.

Erxleben’s wife was diagnosed with dementia five years ago, and it became so bad two years ago that he placed her in a nursing home.

That left Erxleben lonely, so when he saw an ad in the paper a year and a half ago, he called up the ACS’s Jerri Wood, a fellow Marysville resident, to see if he could donate his time and services.

“It’s been very rewarding,” said Erxleben, who recently received a Volunteer of the Month award from the city of Marysville for his work. “I’ve made many new friends.

“One lady felt better just from being able to talk to me,” he added. “She was very open, and asked if I could be her driver from now on. We talk about anything, but I always wait for my passengers to bring up what they want to talk about.”

In April and May of this year, Erxleben drove 605 miles to pick up and drop off an estimated 30 cancer patients for trips such as doctors’ appointments, cancer treatments, prescription pickups and even errands such as grocery shopping.

“Some of them, I see once and then never again,” Erxleben said. “Others, like one gentlemen I had, you see a lot. I drove him twelve times, nine days in a row. It gets to you.

“The one lady I told you about, her cancer came back, but she was so optimistic, even though she knew she probably only had a year to live, that you almost never would have known,” he added.

Erxleben has received unsolicited hugs and expressions of thanks from multiple patients, whose plights have reminded him to be more mindful of his own health.

“This one gentlemen had prostate cancer, but he only found out as a result of getting diagnosed for another problem,” Erxleben said. “I’ve gone through two laser surgeries of my own, so I’m thinking, ‘Hey, I’d better go to the doctor to get myself checked out.’”

Erxleben never could have expected how much the experience would enrich his life.

“It’s not a chore,” Erxleben said. “It’s a privilege. I don’t know what else I could be doing, as a volunteer, that would be more rewarding.”

For details, visit www.cancer.org/treatment/supportprogramsservices/road-to-recovery.