Relay allows students to fight cancer one lap at a time
Lee Hernandez - April 24th, 2008Students laced up their sneakers, set up their tents and hit the Fieldhouse in the Student Union last Friday for an all-night event to fight cancer.
The American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life was at NAU on April 18. Students set up tables, sold coffee, painted hair and faces and gave massages, all in an effort to raise money for cancer research.
Past and present NAU athletic training students massaged relay goers for about a dollar a minute.
“Right now we have raised about $100, so we are looking pretty good,” said Scott Ellis, NAU athletic training alumnus. Ellis has participated in the relay for five consecutive years and said massages are usually a hit during the occasion.
“We will take whatever we can get, but I have seen us raise a couple of hundred dollars a night with massages,” Ellis said.
Like many people at Relay, Ellis volunteers his time because he has personally felt the effects of cancer.
“I have had some family that have battled cancer,” Ellis said. “So (Relay) is an overall good cause to support; it is a good way for people to relax coming into finals.”
Participants walked, jogged and ran around the fieldhouse. Luminarias with handwritten messages circled the track, commemorating those who are fighting cancer, defeated it–or lost the fight. The NAU Kayettes, a student service organization, locked up participants in a makeshift plastic jail cell for donations. Inmates then had to collect a donation twice the amount to bail themselves out of Relay jail.
“We are huge advocates of raising money for cancer research, so we love it. It is such a fun event,” said Jennifer Carroll, a junior speech pathology major and Kayette member.
Carroll said cancer has been a part of a lot of the NAU Kayettes’ lives.
“I have not had anyone I know affected by cancer, but just about everyone of the (Kayette) girls has, so it is very personal for a lot of us,” Carroll said.
Relay attendee Marcos Enriquez, a senior English education major, has had the cancer epidemic hit close to home.
“My aunt Brenda had breast cancer and had to have one of her breasts removed,” Enriquez said.
The reason Enriquez has participated in Relay every year he has been a student at NAU is to contribute to his aunt.
“Of course we pray for her and we are all there for here, but (Relay) at least makes me feel like I am doing something,” Enriquez said.
Enriquez was at Relay selling soda and candy with his fraternity, Omega Delta Pi, hoping to raise at least $200. Enriquez said people who normally do not come to community service events seem to flock to this one.
“I have noticed you see people who normally do not come out come to Relay For Life just to have fun,” Enriquez said.
Relay organizers said the turnout for this year’s event was better than they expected. They were concerned the event would lose steam because of a venue change, but attendance was mostly unaffected.
“We were a little worried because we moved from the dome to the Fieldhouse…everything worked out well,” said Ashley Seay, a senior elementary and special education major and Relay committee member.
Seay said Relay is one of NAU’s biggest annual events because cancer impacts so many different people’s lives.
“A lot of people are touched by cancer either by themselves or by a family member of some sort,” Seay said. “At an event like this there is so much going on with the fundraising and dancing. If someone is not here specifically because cancer has affected them, it is something fun for them.”
As things slow down in the early morning hours at the end of the all-night event, Seay said a sense of accomplishment sets in and erases her physical exhaustion.
“In the last couple of hours you get to a point where your energy starts to come back because you know you have done such a great thing and it is a great feeling at the end of the night,” Seay said.
According to event organizers, NAU raised approximately $56,000 at last year’s Relay. This year organizers were shooting for about $75,000, and by the end of the event participants had raised about $45,000.