Relay For Life: Take a bite out of cancer by taking a few laps around the green

It was one night of living in the moment: bands played, people sang and everyone ate. Tents were decorated with colorful signs and undergarments were worn as adornments. It was one night entirely consumed by the people around you – everyone waiting for their turn to take laps around the Green. Relay for Life participants sure know how to live in the moment. Because cancer never sleeps.

Those affected by cancer are in a constant battle. At Relay for Life, brought to our campus by the American Cancer Society, we remember those who have lost this fight and stand in solidarity with those who are still fighting. Survivors who come to participate know the idea of living in the moment very well.

“Staying up all night makes you appreciate what a cancer patient goes through and inspires you to live in the moment and to seize every hour that comes,” sophomore Ruby Fairchild, who was involved with last year’s Relay, affirms.

During Relay, we celebrate the advancements we’ve made against cancer through “the Survivors’ Lap,” in which cancer survivors walk a lap around the Green. Those assembled for the event light candles to put inside bags, each with the name of a person who has been affected by cancer. As sophomore Lauren Manning, a Relay for Life coordinator and team head here at Conn, says of the event: “the Relay helps to show the cancer survivors in our college community, as well as all those who have been touched by cancer, that the community supports them and is willing to take a step of action in the fight against cancer.”

As a Relay for Life member, one strives to raise at least $100. Last year’s Relay raised over $50,000 through the contributions of participants and their own friends’ and families’ donations. The American Cancer Society distributes money to people fighting cancer, funds research to find a cure for cancer, and supports benefits like summer camps for children with cancer.

Join the event during which time stops for a night in Conn College life. You’ll witness how time never stops for cancer. Go to RelayforLife.org and search for Connecticut College.