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by ALYSSA BOYER
Intern Lifestyles Reporter
Last Friday night, over 340 Appalachian State University students took 12 hours out of their weekend to join the fight against cancer.
Relay for Life, an event put on by Appalachian’s Colleges Against Cancer (CAC) club, kicked off at 6 p.m. and lasted until 6 a.m. Saturday.
Students enjoyed live music, games, a bonfire and speakers including WBTV News Anchor John Carter, who survived prostate cancer.
CAC President Jeana
L. Sigmon, a senior secondary English major, said the purpose of Relay
for Life was to raise money for the American Cancer Society, which
funds cancer research and provides patients with money for treatments.
The club set a goal of $16,500, which would be about one dollar for each student at Appalachian. They ended up raising $23,000.
“I’m
absolutely thrilled over what we’ve done. I’d say we definitely
surpassed our expectations,”sophomore accounting major, Hayley B.
Arning, said.
Arning will be president of CAC next semester.
This year’s Relay for Life saw an increase of over 300 participants from last year, creating 20 additional teams.
Arning
has plans for continued growth in the years to come, with the help of
CAC’s American Cancer Society staff partner Sheila Pait.
The success of Relay for Life is a reflection of the growth of CAC.
Arning joined the club last year as a freshman, during what she calls a “rebuilding year.”
“There
were no returning members. We had to start from scratch,” she said. “We
have taken off and grown exponentially since then.”
For many of the members of CAC and the participants of Relay for Life, cancer is a subject that hits very close to home.
This was
evident during the survivor lap, when cancer survivors and their
caregivers walked a celebratory lap to kick off the relay.
Sigmon said that it is this part of the relay that she will remember most.
She was able to walk the lap with her grandmother, who survived colon cancer and has now been cancer free for 17 years.
Junior criminal justice major Piper R. Ferguson, who serves as historian for CAC, walked with her mother who had breast cancer.
After
leaving school for nearly the entire month of March 2008 to take care
of her while she was receiving treatments, Ferguson cherished the
opportunity to celebrate her mother’s survival.
“We
were hugging each other and crying and telling each other how proud we
are,” Ferguson said. “That’s the reason we do it. We do it so everybody
can be a survivor.”
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