Wood County Relay for Life 2025: Huffman serving as fundraiser’s grand marshal
Trending
PARKERSBURG -- Paul Huffman has been involved with the Wood County Relay for Life since 1994, including over a decade helping with logistics.
But when he participated in the 2024 event, he had no idea his next one would be as a cancer survivor.
Huffman was diagnosed with cancer in September and had surgery in October. He is now cancer-free, which he attributed to great doctors and God's blessings.
"If your doctor thinks there is any indication, follow on it as soon as possible. The sooner something is done the better the outcome," he said.
Huffman will serve as the grand marshal for this year's Relay on Saturday in City Park - although he had a special hat made that says "grand marshal" instead of the traditional crown.
He supported the event with his wife, Melanie, and later youth groups from their church, Vienna Baptist, became involved before taking a more direct role himself. The Huffmans have been on the event leadership team for many years.
Huffman said he feels honored to be the grand marshal and urges everyone to come to the Relay, especially survivors and caregivers.
"One of the things we do is honor survivors and caregivers and those who battle cancer," he said of Relay for Life.
Huffman said he feels lucky that his own cancer, which involved lymph nodes and his small intestine, was caught early enough that only surgery was required. He did not have to undergo chemotherapy but will be seeing his doctor every six months to make sure he remains cancer-free.
Huffman was born in Parkersburg on Aug. 12, 1950, to Alfred and Florence Huffman. He graduated from Parkersburg High School in 1969 and West Virginia University, with a degree in business administration, in 1973.
He married Melanie Rader on June 7, 1975. They have three children, Benjamin (Deborah), Melissa (Mark) and Phillip (Christina) and six grandchildren. Huffman retired from United bank in 2017 as vice president of operations.