If he’s among others and emotion gets the best of him, Larry Harker says he got dirt in his eyes to cover for his manhood.

At the annual Relay for Life ceremonies at Mansion Park on Friday evening, Harker got dirt in his eyes when 17-year-old event ambassador Timothy Boyles spoke of his cancer, which began in 2006.

One could make the case that Harker had been well softened up, emotionally: his own son, Doug, now 55, was diagnosed with bone cancer in the shoulder about seven years ago.

For two years, Doug underwent chemotherapy, radiation and uncertainty.

Doug’s mother, Nancy, married to Larry for 61 years, made every one of his treatments, while Larry made all of them that he could.

“It brought the family closer together,” Larry said.

One way it did so was by showing “you can’t take anything for granted,” said Doug’s sister, Deb Claar, who walked in the Relay with her parents as part of The Hite Co. team.

“Family is everything,” Nancy said.

They held onto hope for Doug and did lots of praying, even as others prayed for them.

There were lots of “prayer chains,” which are like a virtuous Ponzi scheme of supplication to the Almighty.

Thousands of prayers from people all over the country, with the help of the Internet, Larry said.

After two years, doctors declared Doug, a bridge designer for PennDOT, cancer-free.

Doug wasn’t with his parents and sister for the evening ceremony, but was planning to come later to walk with a friend, the Harkers said.

They pointed out the friend, who was being wheeled along the walkway in front of the home stands.

Larry had been impressed with the way Timothy Boyles’ mother, father and two siblings stood behind him as Timothy spoke to the crowd of several hundred people.

“His family is like our family,” Nancy said.

Hope was a major theme during the reading of cancer-related aphorisms by three red-shirted leaders of the event.

“Once you choose hope, anything is possible,” stated one.

“Cancer is an ugly disease, but the beauty of life after cancer is worth fighting for,” stated another.

“Choose life over cancer,” stated a third.

Timothy Boyles has been cancer-free for 10 years and plays multiple sports.

The boy hopes to play for the Altoona Curve one day, said master of ceremonies John Clay.

The crowd cheered to hear it.

A little while later, as preparations got underway for a children’s group, the Relay teams, and cancer survivors to walk around the track, the sound system began to play Gloria Gaynor’s big disco-era hit:

“I will survive.”