IT'S BEEN 10 years since Christine Freitas was diagnosed with melanoma, two years since doctors removed a tumor near her heart, almost a year since she underwent successful brain-tumor surgery.

A cheerful 49-year-old who says she draws energy each day from her husband, Robert, and three daughters — Cara, Jenna and Kelly — Freitas reports her road to recovery is going well.

“Knock on wood, I'm doing great right now,” she said. “Fortunately, there's no new occurrences. I'm doing the things I need to do to stay healthy. I'm staying on top of my exams and scans, and it's all good now.”

Around this time last year, Freitas asked doctors to delay removing the brain tumor for a few days. Her twins, Jenna and Kelly, had organized a benefit field hockey jamboree, she explained, and she didn't want to miss it. Request granted, Christine was at Manchester Memorial High for the inaugural Playing for a Purpose Jamboree, which featured 11 colorfully attired teams from around the state, each raising awareness and funds to combat a different form of cancer.

“It was important for me to be there,” said Christine. “Looking back, the event actually helped me greatly. It lifted my spirit, gave me hope. To see the sea of colored jerseys worn by teams who were playing for different types of cancer was absolutely incredible.”

Not only that, the jamboree raised more than $10,000.

Jenna and Kelly have since graduated — both are headed to UMass-Lowell — and Rebecca Libby, the Manchester Memorial head coach who helped make the inaugural event so successful, has since stepped down to devote more time to her family, but Christine Freitas didn't want the Playing for a Purpose Jamboree to be a one-time affair. Neither, it turned out, did Libby.

“She still had her contact numbers and said she had the time to organize another jamboree with me,” Christine Freitas said.

And so, on Aug. 22, beginning at 8 a.m., teams will gather again at Memorial's Chabot-McDonough Field for the second annual Playing for a Purpose Jamboree. As was the case last year, participants will wear jerseys in colors representing a different form of cancer: black for melanoma (Memorial), dark blue for colon (Bedford), gray for brain (Sanborn of Kingston), orange for kidney (Souhegan of Amherst), white for lung (Stevens of Claremont), purple for leiomyosarcoma (Pelham), yellow for angiosarcoma (White Mountains of Whitefield), burgundy for multiple myeloma (Windham), teal for ovarian (ConVal of Peterborough), light blue for prostate (Manchester Central) and pink for breast cancer (Kearsarge of Sutton).

“The teams selected the type of cancer and the jersey colors associated with it,” said Freitas. “Last year, some teams chose other types of cancers — like leukemia, cervical, bone, childhood and pancreatic. We're trying to raise awareness to all types of cancers. This year, each team will bring a poster educating the public about the type of cancer they're playing (to combat) in the jamboree.”

With the Freitas twins heading off to college, rising Memorial seniors Michaela Demers, Desirae Leblanc and Sydney Farley are heading the Crusaders' fundraising efforts.

“I was so touched by what my girls and the whole Memorial team did for me last year, but I also want to add that the jamboree isn't for a specific person battling a specific type of cancer,” Christine Freitas said. “Like last year, this year each school is playing for someone in their community who has a type of cancer. This jamboree is not only about raising money for research to beat cancer but also to raise awareness.”

Citing her own battle with melanoma, Christine said, “Through money raised over the years and through research, there are now five different avenues available to melanoma patients which weren't around 10 years ago. That is great news. And to be able to organize another field hockey jamboree is going to eventually create more avenues that will benefit cancer patients in the future.”

Freitas said 60 percent of the proceeds from the jamboree will go directly to Dartmouth-Hitchcock's Norris Cotton Cancer Center. She spoke highly of the center, particularly of the treatment she's received over the years at Dartmouth-Hitchcock in Lebanon.

“Every cent raised and donated to the Norris Cotton Cancer Center goes to patient services and research,” she said. “I've been fortunate as a patient at Dartmouth-Hitchcock that I have never had chemotherapy treatment. I'm treating my cancer with radiation, and it all goes back to research. Today they can pinpoint the type of cancer you have and even tone down the treatment you need to recover from it.”

Of the more than $10,000 raised last year, almost $6,000 went to Norris Cotton.

“Our goal is to top that amount this year,” Christine said. “We're going to run raffles, sell food and drinks at our concession stand, and we're even raffling off a quilt my mother-in-law (Mary Freitas) sewed with the different colors representing cancer in it, including pink for breast cancer. We're asking the public to support us.”

And she hopes the support will extend to New Horizons of New Hampshire, the Manchester homeless shelter, soup kitchen and food pantry that will set up a stand to accept food donations for the needy. Fighting hunger in the city is a difficult battle, but if there's one thing Christine Freitas has proved in the past 10 years, it's that she's a more than worthy opponent.
jhabib@unionleader.com