NEDERLAND — Jennifer Rodgers spoke about the impact of those words, “You have cancer,” and how they weigh on a person’s heart. They weighed on mine.

Speaking to a gathering at 5Point Credit Union last week, which had the No. 1 Relay for Life team among all 3,500 events in the world, the retired Sabine Pass teacher spoke of her own experiences a decade ago, about the value of cancer research and how children, too, need to be aware of cancer’s impact on people’s lives.

In one sense, Rodgers was preaching to the choir. The 5Point crowd is an enthusiastic source of support for the American Cancer Society. Relay for Life efforts there raised more than a half-million dollars last year, an astounding achievement.

Several people in the crowd of some three dozen, gathered so that 5Point could receive recognition from the American Cancer Society, talked about their personal relationships with people who have cancer. Others talked among themselves about the high rate of cancer in Greater Port Arthur, a center for refineries and petrochemical plants.

On one hand, inside 5Point’s pristine lobby, one couldn’t imagine the specter of cancer and its crushing impact on individual lives and on families. On the other, well, the air blows strange, foreign smells across the Golden Triangle.

I’m no stranger to that. For two years, I lived northeast of the 23 plants in and around Westlake, Louisiana, a version of Port Arthur when it comes to industry. The plants — they include refineries and petrochemical sites — offer good jobs with high pay; generations of people have provided for their families on the strength of those jobs.

My wife and I bought our home in unincorporated Moss Bluff, a few miles from Westlake, and we didn’t think twice about the plants until ill winds blew through. The wild hogs in the area seemed a greater threat.

But eventually I checked the data — it was something a brighter consumer would have done before purchasing a home — and learned that prevailing winds routinely sent tough stuff from the stacks our way. But you have to live somewhere.

Rodgers’ words resonated with me, too. Short years back, living in Lafayette, my urologist called to tell me the “good news” after my first cancer test: My cancer cells were of the slow-moving variety. Something else would likely kill me before prostate cancer would.

If he wanted to give me “good news,” I told him, he should have said he was giving me a free puppy. But I knew his intentions were good.

Those cancer cells were a genetic gift from my Dad, who is still walking the earth and approaching his 86^th birthday. For me, they launched a series of tests over the course of two years, poking and prodding I’d never imagined. They initiated conversations with my son, who took the genetic news with some equanimity.

It could have been worse, and I know my good fortune. Each subsequent test suggested what we suspected from the start: a slow-moving disease, one that might never manifest itself fatally or even seriously.

I’d almost felt guilty when I’d spoken with others who’d endured far more dangerous cancers or those who had lost family members. But every time I’d talk about cancer cells, I’d hesitate, take some deep breaths, and appreciate that for me, the news had been good. So far.

Those thoughts raced through my mind while taking notes at the 5Point news conference. The Relay for Life team was rightfully proud and excited both with the recognition delivered to them from the American Cancer Society that day and with the full knowledge of where their efforts might bear fruit. They had chosen to fund a researcher at the University of Massachusetts who was seeking better ways in treatment to target cancer cells without harming healthy cells.

Pizza and fruit — the healthy choice — was served at the event along with bottled water. It was a joyful morning; through their good efforts, 5Point’s people had achieved something special.

I was just grateful to be among such good people, whose hard work might someday benefit the likes of me.

Ken Stickney is editor of the Port Arthur News.