Deafening stillness, interspersed with sniffles, emanates through McDonough Field as you walk alongside 800 individuals in silence around the flickering luminaria track. Your heart fills with grief as the faces of those who have passed flash across the giant screen as Alex Riddle’s voice and guitar strings perfectly accompany the somber mood.
Your eyes moisten with tears or you struggle to hold them back, feeling a welling in your heart that aches all the way to your throat. You compose yourself and make your way toward the table in front where an empty chair sits before you, representing all of the individuals who cancer selfishly stole from your life with no remorse. You write a message on the tablecloth to a loved one who may be lost but never forgotten. Anger, sadness and questioning course through your body, but you know that you are not alone.
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On March 29 from 8:00 p.m. to 8:00 a.m., a year of incredibly hard work culminated in an event that we hope many will always remember from their time at Emory. We celebrated the lives of survivors, remembered those we’ve lost and fought back to eradicate the phrase “you have cancer” from our vocabulary. The days following Relay For Life have left us with an immense amount of love and gratitude for those who contributed to our organization in any way, shape or form.
First off, thank you to the 800 plus individuals of the Emory community who helped Relay For Life raise $59,000 and counting for the American Cancer Society. You are the people that make the hours of labor worth it. So many of us are touched by cancer, but through your efforts, we are creating a world where this isn’t the case for future generations. We hope that those who attended the main event both had a blast and also were empowered for the future. In 2013, one in two men and one in three women will be diagnosed with cancer. It’s through efforts like yours that those rates are dropping and the number of birthdays celebrated per day are rising. You’ve told us why you Relay, you’ve pledged to help save lives this year, and you’ve told off cancer.
Though we are grateful for all who touched our event this year, this is also a call to action to go one step further. We are asking you not to sit silently until this battle is won. The beauty of Relay is its power to bring together pockets of Emory for a reason that unfortunately touches us all.
Whether it is participating in the sorority window-painting competition, hosting a team fundraiser or even performing at Relay – there are niche ways for you, your organization or your group of friends to help fight back. The realization that your involvement with Relay can be what you make it is the first step in moving toward a level of inclusivity and legacy that we hope our organization emanates for years to come.
Our overall success is a product of the community’s motivation to think beyond the “oh, this is another event to sign up for” sentiment and realize the difference one can make through their involvement with Relay For Life. We challenge the Emory community to take a step beyond being a $10 participant in the years coming. Sure, that can get you entry to an evening of exorbitant fun and delusional giggles, but realize that every dollar makes a difference. Every dollar raised gives an individual another free night at the Hope Lodge while they receive chemotherapy, funnels back to Emory in the form of research grants to help find a cure, allows a woman to feel her inner beauty again by rocking a new wig after losing her hair during treatment.
In the past year alone, the American Cancer Society has gone from helping save 350 to now 400 lives per day. Though this is an incredible accomplishment, this is not an indication that we should take a break. Let’s finish the fight, reach our $67,000 goal for 2013 and continue to move forward to a world without cancer.
Thank you once again, to all those in the community who have helped make this an incredible year for Relay For Life of Emory University. We hope you have been left with the same inspiration that we feel every day through our work with this organization, and we hope that you continue to go above and beyond in your participation in the future.
Erica Stein is a College senior from Oakton, Va. and Kaele Michelle is from Elmhurst, Ill.
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