As the group of cancer survivors participating in Relay For Life completed the first lap around Drake Stadium on Saturday afternoon, friends and family members placed medals around their necks. Other participants stood on the inside track and cheered before joining the survivors in the 24-hour walk against cancer.
Relay For Life is an annual nationwide relay sponsored by the American Cancer Society. Approximately 100 teams and 1000 people participated in UCLA’s Relay for Life this weekend. Participants spent the night in Drake Stadium with the purpose of celebrating the lives of cancer survivors, honoring those who have lost their lives to the disease and raising money to help fight it.
Sasha Barnett, a first-year psychology student, was one of the many survivors to walk the opening lap. Two of Barnett’s sorority sisters had the honor of placing the medal around her neck.
Doctors discovered that Barnett had brain cancer after coming to the hospital for a concussion caused by a cheerleading injury. Barnett, who had brain surgery her sophomore year of high school, was treated at the UCLA’s medical center.
Twenty-four hours after the first lap, survivors and participants walked the final lap of the event together. Between the first and last lap, UCLA’s Relay For Life raised $127,118.60, a total that is $67,000 more than last year’s relay. The money raised will be donated to the American Cancer Society and used primarily for cancer research.
In years past, the American Cancer Society has given a total of $2.4 million in the form of research grants back to UCLA.
At the closing ceremony Karen Rubenstein, UCLA’s American Cancer Society adviser for the past four years, announced UCLA’s relay was the second-largest in the state.
Lauren Adams, the Relay For Life committee cochair, was overwhelmed by the turnout.
“I was blown out of the water. I didn’t expect for this many people to stay all night long,” she said.
Of the nearly 100 teams that participated, Kappa Alpha Theta sorority had the largest turnout. Eighty of the sorority’s members walked in the relay, and by the end of the event, they raised more money than any other team.
Travis Alexander, a second-year physiological science student who remained on the track for all 24 hours, was another participant who put forth a profound effort.
Alexander organized a team with his fraternity, Sigma Alpha Epsilon, and asked his mother, who is a breast cancer survivor, to walk with them.
“My son asked me to walk. This is my first time doing something like this, and I am so happy to be here,” said Cindy Alexander, his mother.
Adams said that fundraising was not the only major goal of Relay For Life.
“While the main purpose of Relay For Life is to fundraise, we are also here to educate people about cancer,” he said.
Rubenstein said two-thirds of cancer patients could avoid the disease by eating right, exercising, wearing sunscreen and abstaining from smoking.
The Relay For Life committee, specifically the mission delivery team, spent time educating community members and students about cancer while fundraising during the months prior to the event and during the relay.
Barnett was a member of the mission delivery team and worked to inform students about the disease.
“(The mission delivery team tells) people about what they can do to prevent getting the disease and also inform those who do have cancer of services available to them,” she said.
The 24 hours were filled with numerous activities, such as performances by bands, capture the flag, magic shows and ultimate Frisbee.
Julie Goldrosen, a first-year political science student, said she particularly enjoyed the luminaria ceremony, where participants gathered at 9 p.m. to remember those lost to the cancer.
Participants were asked to break their glow sticks according to the different reasons why they were walking in the relay.
Overall, Goldrosen said she enjoyed her experience at Relay For Life.
“It was a good way to get involved,” she said. “It was really tiring, but rewarding, and I learned a lot.”