Relay For Life

This weekend I attended the University of Northern Colorado's Relay for Life. Relay for life is an event to celebrate, remember, and fight back. Its to celebrate the lives who have battled cancer, remember the lives of loved ones you have lost to cancer, and and fight back against cancer.

The event takes place in the gyms of the campus recreation center. Above the gym we have a suspended track where the walking relay takes place. There has to be one person from your team on the track at all times through out the whole event. Any club or organization can sign up as a team with a maximum 14 people. Each team does its own fundraisers to raise money for Relay. I did Relay for Life with my fraternity and we got together and did a bake sale to raise money. The theme for the event was under the sea, so the night before the event my team made t-shirts with that theme. When it comes to the  night before the event you have to make sure than you get enough sleep. That means you go to bed early and take as many naps as you can all day long. Each team is given a square of space for them to use the whole night. Many teams choose to decorate their space with the theme and others simply use it as a sleeping area. Relay for Life lasted from 6pm until 7 am, so many students sleep for some of the time. When the event starts they have a speaker that talks about their experience with cancer to open the event. Then at 9 p.m. they have an Luminaria ceremony where we remember the loved ones that we have lost to cancer and honor the ones that are still fighting. The speaker for the ceremony was a woman who didn't let cancer in her way or bring her down. She inspired the audience by her cancer story and how she only saw the good things that came out of her diagnosis. All together the even was a great and memorable night that I will always remember. The University of Northern Colorado raised a total of $58,980. I lost my grandmother to breast cancer and this event allows me to remember the great woman she was and to fight for a cure for the future.

For more information go to http://www.relayforlife.org/index .