Students trade sleep for cancer research funds
While most of Cache Valley was sleeping on Friday night, hundreds of people were gathered in the George Nelson Fieldhouse walking against cancer. The event, called Relay For Life, raised $11,428 for the American Cancer Society.
“The idea is that cancer doesn’t sleep, so we won’t either,” said Dustin Peterson, the committee chair for Relay For Life. “It’s been on campus ever since 2008, but there is tons of relays all over the world. We’re just one of many.”
Three hundred thirty-one people participated in the relay, totaling 36 teams. Each team had at least one person walking around the track from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
“Relay For Life is probably the biggest, at least one of the biggest cancer fundraisers in the United States,” said Steve Wilcox, the team development chair for Relay For Life. “At Utah State, we’re actually lucky enough to host one of the biggest ones in the state of Utah. Basically the whole point of a Relay For Life is you create cancer awareness, and you also gain support for cancer survivors as well as raise money for cancer research.”
The relay opened up with a speech from Bret Frodsham, a survivor who has been cancer-free for three months.
“Some of the darkest nights of my life were spent sitting in the Huntsman Center,” Frodsham said. “I just cherished the support I got from other people.”
After Frodsham addressed the crowd, the first lap of the relay was taken by the cancer survivors in attendance, followed by a lap with the survivors and their sponsors then a lap by everyone in attendance.
At 11 p.m. the “Luminaria Ceremony” began, honoring both those who survived cancer and those who didn’t. Cameron Brock, a volunteer for the relay who survived cancer himself, opened up the ceremony.
“One thing we must always remember is that as we battle this disease day-to-day, we know that cancer does not sleep,” Brock said. “We all share the hope that one day we will live in a world where our children and their children will never know the suffering of cancer or endure the staggering feeling of silence and loss that cancer brings.”
After Brock addressed the crowd, participants placed lights in paper bags lining the track that represented why they relayed. Then a few laps were taken in total silence, save the noise of hundreds of footsteps meeting the padded track.
“I don’t know any of these people personally, but it’s still touching to see that that’s someone’s father and someone’s mother, and it’s sad,” said Garett Robison, a student who participated in the relay. “It was very touching. I mean, this is only a few number of people that have had to go through this, not everyone in the world. It’s powerful.”
Fernanda Celestino, another participant in the event, also found the Luminaria celebration moving.
“I thought that was amazing,” Celestino said. “It just really makes a difference and it really puts it more in perspective when you see how many people have actually gone through it and are suffering through this.”
The two main organizers for the event had also seen people close to them go through cancer.
“My mother is a two-time cancer survivor. That’s why I’m doing what I’m doing,” said Peterson, whose goal is to be an oncologist. “That’s what drives each of us, really. We’ve all been affected by it. When people come to this event they realize, ‘Wow, I have been affected.'”
Wilcox used to go to Primary Children’s Hospital with his cousin when he was 14.
“I would go with my cousin Blake to Primary Children’s Hospital and be there as his caregiver,” he said. “So I would be with him there while he was in the hospital. I would hold him while he was getting his treatments and I would see all of these other kids with their heads shaved and hooked up to machines, and it was just heartbreaking to see these kids. They don’t deserve to go through through that. I don’t think anybody does.”
Wilcox’s cousin survived cancer, but his grandma, who was diagnosed with it shortly after his cousin, did not.
Among the hundreds of participants, many had people they were close to or related to affected by cancer.
“My grandpa died of cancer when my dad was a kid,” said Spencer Stevens, another participant in the relay. “I think about that a lot, especially lately, what could have been with him. That kind of inspired me to do it.”
Others came out to support the cause simply because they found it important. J.D. Arnold, the social service chair of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, put together a group for the relay.
“This draws a lot of people that have the true potential to serve and that want to serve,” he said. “Utah State has an active campus with good-hearted, well-mannered people. I like to serve. That’s why I do it.”
The overall money raised made the event a success.
“(Cancer) really does affect each of us,” Peterson said. “This event cultivates the environment for everybody, whether they think they have been affected or not, to realize this is huge and from year to year it keeps growing.”
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