THE LAST WORD:

For seven years, Newport-Mesa residents have been stepping up to support the eradication of cancer.

That is, in essence, what the Relay for Life is all about.

Today marked the end of the seventh-annual 24-hour marathon in which leaders, public safety workers and moms with strollers walk the track at Newport Harbor High to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for the American Cancer Society.

And just up the road from Newport Harbor, Costa Mesa leaders began their inaugural Relay for Life event this very same weekend at OCC.

While we applaud Costa Mesa leaders for joining in this worthy cause, we suggest that more participation might occur if they held it another weekend or combined forces with Newport Beach.

Either way, residents have shown once again that they are willing to donate time and money for a worthy cause.

For all those who braved the heat in either city’s Relay for Life, we salute you. It’s through your efforts that someday cancer may be as rare as polio or the plague.

Because of you, we can all look forward to that someday.