May 26th, 2017 - Relay For Life
Today I volunteered at the Canadian Cancer Society’s Relay for Life - an overnight walk to raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society - where I worked mainly in the Kids Zone. I supervised children playing games and on the bouncers, did arts and crafts with them and other things to that degree. When I heard about this event I knew I wanted to volunteer to become more involved with the cancer community. I am glad I did so, because I discovered there they have a special thing for cancer survivors, which I am (as previously established). There, I was able to register as a survivor and I was treated to lunch and a victory lap around the track. It felt so good to know that I was among people who understood, and people fundraising for the cause. Next year I plan to make my own team so I can participate more.
I was expecting to see more people there, but it was still a good turnout. There were so many survivors in yellow shirts, reminding us how common cancer is. Most of them were adults, with way less kids and I think I was the only teenager. This made me think that I could get my friends involved from our teen group at CancerCare next year, which would be super fun. The cancer community is really strong because of the understanding that survivors hold for each other. You truly can’t understand it unless you’ve gone through it, and even though there are thousands of variations of the disease, there is a universal camaraderie. I met this amazing woman there named Tammy in the midst of not knowing anybody. We exchanged stories and she reminded me how easy I had it. Some people never find a cure - you just have to live with it, knowing the mutated cells are inhabiting your body. If that doesn’t spur you to get out and spread the word, what will?
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| The survivor lap. |
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| Tammy, a brilliant lady and I decked out in CCS gear. |
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