Entertainment starts at 4.30pm today, ahead of an official opening at 6.30pm.

Both the Survivors and Carers Lap and the Candle Light Ceremony are scheduled to take place between 7.30 and 9pm.

Relay for Life in Bendigo concludes at 3pm on Saturday.

To donate to a team or participant, click here.

RUSSELL Cole died four months and a day after he was diagnosed with cancer.

The 58-year-old husband and father of four received no indication of trouble after a bowel cancer screening test in June. 

Then he started feeling bloated, uncomfortable, and generally unwell.

A cancer diagnosis on November 17 put the family’s day-to-day life on hold.

Russell not only had bowel cancer – the illness had spread to his liver.

His eldest daughter, Brittany, said the family learned of Relay for Life through social media.

She became interested when she realised the Cancer Council was involved.

“They’ve got really good resources,” Brittany said.

The information on the Cancer Council website was useful to the Coles while Russell was unwell.

They sought to give back by entering a team in Relay for Life, which starts at 4.30pm today and runs until 3pm tomorrow.

“We’ve never done anything like this before,” Brittany said. 

They had intended on having Russell complete a lap at the event, which will be staged at Backhaus Oval in Golden Square.

“We were planning on putting him in the wheelchair,” Russell’s wife, Donna Cole, said.

Instead, they will be taking part in his memory.

Team Rutodobrigada – a word made of parts of each family member’s first name – is expected to consist of about 30 people.

The team has raised more than $7500 since it registered in January – well more than its initial goal of $4000.

“The first night it went live we raised $500,” Brittany said.

Raising awareness of cancer and supporting causes that had helped in Russell’s fight with the disease had been the family’s aim for some time.

Donna said Russell had been hoping to make a speech at his work about his experiences, but never had the chance.

The family made a donation to the oncology department at Bendigo Health in recognition of Russell’s appreciation for the staff.

“Dad just loved the nurses there so much,” Brittany said.

Russell’s torch from the 2000 Sydney Olympic torch relay, which he participated in while living in Seymour, is expected to serve as the Relay for Life team’s baton.

The Cole family is known in Bendigo, Seymour and elsewhere for its sporting talent – particularly that of Russell, who has a sports facility in Seymour named after him; and son Thomas Cole, an AFL player for the West Coast Eagles.

Tom is not expected to partake in Bendigo’s Relay for Life.

About 50 teams and more than 500 participants are registered for this year’s event.

TEAM ‘Mad Hatters’ has been a part of Relay for Life in Bendigo for years.

A family member’s diagnosis with bowel cancer was the initial motivation for Amie Wilson, Paige Cartwright and the rest of the team to participate in the Cancer Council fundraising event.

The motivation has multiplied as other family members have fought the disease.

Two grandparents, an aunt and even their mother have lived with cancer.

This year, the team will remember a much-loved friend who was taken from their midst much too soon.

Jett Hamley was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer shortly before Christmas in December 2016,  after hitting his head. 

He was in his second year of life when he died on October 25, 2017.

Amie’s two-year-old daughter, Laihton, considered Jett to be her best friend.

“So he's heavy in our hearts this year,” Amie said.

Team ‘Mad Hatters’ is recognised within the Relay for Life Bendigo community for its displays of creativity.

“Last year we put a lot of emphasis into the dressing of the site. This year we’ll lay off the dressing of the site a little bit,” Amie said.

Instead, the team has focused its energy on decorated candle bags for the candlelight ceremony – a feature of Relay for Life events.

The ceremony is an opportunity for reflection and remembrance.

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Each of the candles lining the track symbolises a loved one lost to cancer, or living with cancer. 

The candlelight ceremony follows the first lap of the overnight event – a lap in honour of cancer survivors and their carers.

Funds raised by the Relay for Life assist with cancer research and support for cancer patients, their families and carers.

Last year’s event in Bendigo contributed more than $133,000 to the cause.

Relay for Life in Bendigo has amassed a total of $3.28 million for the Cancer Council in its 18-year history.

The event concludes with a closing ceremony at 3pm tomorrow.

It’s unlikely Lewis Carrol was setting out to craft an allegory for living with cancer when he wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1865.

But to Paige Cartwright and Amie Wilson’s mother, there was no better way to put it – particularly as she was going through chemotherapy.

Amie said her mother could never pin down one particular feeling whenever people asked how she was going during treatment.

“She was always like, ‘I feel like Alice in  Wonderland… some days I feel big, some days I feel small, some days I feel like not drinking, some days I feel like eating everything in sight... some days I've got to go through little doors to see the bigger picture’,” she said.

“She became Alice for her journey.”

Hence, the novel was the theme adopted by the Relay for Life team.

Participants at the Bendigo event tonight might see a few quotes from the novel decorating the ‘Mad Hatters’ site.

“Alice says, ‘This is impossible,’ and the Mad Hatter says, ‘Only if you believe it is’,” Amie said.