Making Strides: Karen Woldahl leads $6 million Relay for Life team

By Catherine Godbey | Living 50 Plus

When Karen Woldahl moved to Decatur from Indiana in 2002 as a member of Nucor Steel — the city’s newest industrial mill at the time — she searched for ways to get involved with the community.

Relay for Life, a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society, caught the attention of Woldahl and other Nucor employees.

“We were all brand new to the area and wanted to be part of the community. One of the folks who joined us from a neighboring company participated in Relay and suggested it. I had just lost my aunt to lung cancer and thought it was a great idea,” Woldahl said.

A year later, Nucor Steel Decatur participated in Relay for Life for the first time and, through bake sales and hot dog sales, raised $1,500 — an amount the company matched.

“We thought we were something big. We had heard the average team turned in $1,000 and we turned in $3,000. Then we met teams that raised a lot more than we did. We thought, ‘we can do that,’ and started adding fundraising events,” Woldahl said. “The second year we raised $9,000 and the year after that we raised $16,000. We kept climbing to now we are averaging between $400,000 and $500,000 a year.”

Over the past 22 years, under the leadership of the 56-year-old Woldahl as captain, Nucor Steel Decatur has raised over $5.9 million for the American Cancer Society. Last year, Nucor Steel Decatur raised more than $506,000 — the most raised by any Relay for Life team in the country.

So far, for the 2024-2025 campaign, which culminates with the Relay for Life of Morgan County event on May 16 at Ingalls Harbor, the company has raised more than $400,000, pushing the grand total over $6.3 million.

Woldahl credited the company’s commitment to Relay for Life to the wide-reaching impact of cancer.

“Cancer is one of those things that it would be hard to find someone who is not affected by it whether it is you or someone you love,” Woldahl said. “We have folks at work who have been diagnosed with cancer and it affects us all.”

Like for many Relay for Life participants, for Woldahl, the cause is personal.

Along with losing her aunt to lung cancer, Woldahl’s mother died of glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, in 2009. At the time, no treatment existed for glioblastoma. Doctors gave Woldahl’s mother three months to live. She survived a little more than a year thanks to experimental treatment.

Because of her involvement with Relay for Life, Woldahl encouraged her mother to access American Cancer Society’s outreach programs. She received wigs from her local American Cancer Society office and attended the Look Good Feel Better program, which teaches cancer patients about makeup and hair techniques.

Funds raised through Relay for Life also allow the American Cancer Society to operate a hotline for patients and caregivers, provide free lodging and rides to treatment, offer hair loss and post-surgical products and fund cancer research.

Since 1985, Relay for Life has raised $6.8 billion for cancer research.

“The cancer my mom passed away from, people are living with now thanks to research that is being done and the progress we have made. That research and progress is due, in part, to the funds we raise through Relay for Life,” Woldahl said. “Now people are able to live with glioblastoma because they have found ways to suppress the tumor and keep it inactive.”

For Woldahl, who works as lead process analyst at Nucor Steel Decatur, fundraising for Relay for Life is a year-round effort. Over the past 23 years, the Nucor team has transitioned from bake sales and hot dog sales to holding a golf outing, bass fishing tournament and Cycle the South, a four-day, 335-mile bike ride from Birmingham to the Hope Lodge in Memphis, Tennessee. The mill also promotes an internal payroll deduction campaign and, for seven years, oversaw Nightmare on Moulton Street, the haunted house above The Brick Deli.

“All of our current campaigns raise over $50,000 apiece,” Woldahl said. “We have kind of grown away from the bake sales from the early years, but we still do events to raise awareness at the mill and keep the ACS in the minds of the employees so they know they have options in case they are the one in three people diagnosed with cancer.”

Through its fundraising efforts, the Nucor Steel Decatur team has gained national attention.

“When we passed $50,000 in 2007, no team in Alabama had ever done that before. We also became the first $1 million team and then the first $5 million dollar team,” Woldahl said. “A lot of people know Nucor and know Decatur because of what we do for the American Cancer Society.”

The Relay for Life event will kick off with a survivors’ walk and a caregivers’ walk. The event will last from 6 to 10 p.m. and include music by Nashville singer-songwriter Audra McLaughlin. Last year, Relay for Life in Morgan County ranked first in the nation with $694,117 raised.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Karen as a leader on our Relay for Life executive leadership team. Her dedication to advancing the mission, mentoring teams and uplifting our event to involve the entire community is unmatched,” said Cherry Hammonds, senior development manager for the American Cancer Society’s South Region.

The luminaries that line the walking path represent one of Woldahl’s favorite aspects of the event.

“It gives you time to reflect and you get to read all the names on the bags, a lot of which are still living,” Woldahl said. “I read them and think, hopefully I made an impact on that person and there is a bag in honor instead of in memory of them because of what we are doing.”

For more information on Relay for Life of Morgan County, visit facebook.com/relayforlifedecatural or email cherry.hammonds@cancer.org.