The Voice

The Baldwin County Relay For Life is just around the corner, and if you have never participated in a Relay For Life here, you probably don’t know just how big of a deal it is. Almost everyone in the Baldwin County community participates in this fundraiser for the American Cancer Society. It’s really amazing how this community gets so into it and so many people come together to fight cancer.

You really should get involved and support the Relay somehow. There are so many Georgia College & State University students and faculty members who are on Relay for Life teams to raise money to fight cancer. Join one of those teams! If you don’t join a team, be sure to support bake sales, CD sales and other Relay fundraisers on campus.

Help in any way you can. We are all affected by cancer. This sounds somewhat cliche, but that’s because it’s true. You know someone who has fought cancer. You have seen how cancer changes people’s lives…how it changes everything. You know an absolutely wonderful person who has had to go through cancer.

With just The Colonnade editorial board, two of our grandmothers have fought breast cancer. One of us has a grandfather who is a two-time survivor of colon cancer and has a friend of the family who has six months to live because of a brain tumor. One of us has an aunt who has fought leukemia, and another one of us has an aunt who is going through chemotherapy for the third time because of ovarian cancer. One of us has lost a grandmother to colon cancer. One of our mothers has battled breast cancer and has undergone chemotherapy. Everyone knows someone.

It’s great that there is such a phenomenal fundraiser like the Relay For Life. With the funds raised, the American Cancer Society has been able to give more than $2.5 billion to scientists since 1946. The AMC has funded researchers who have discovered bone marrow transplants, the PSA test for early detection of prostate cancer, the Pap test and tamoxifen. A lot of the money raised through the Relay allows the AMC to address cancer issues at local, state and federal levels of government.

We’ve come a far way in the fight against cancer but there’s still a ways to go. Do something for Relay. Give a couple of dollars to the sorority on campus selling brownies and cupcakes. Make a donation to the AMC through that guy in your English class who’s raising money for the Relay.

Join a team. It’s not too late. Call Kendall Stiles at the G.I.V.E. Center at 445-5936 and be a part of the Relay For Life.

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Jan 24 2003. Filed under Our Voice. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry