Spring Break
Students find inspiration in URI Relay For Life, raise money for cancer research
Jessica Medeiros
Issue date: 4/4/08 Section: News
04/04/08 - The American Cancer Society predicts that more than 1.4 million people will be diagnosed with cancer in 2008. It is one of the leading causes of death in the United States, second only to heart disease.
These statistics are an indication that most people will be affected by cancer at some point, whether through friends, relatives or firsthand experience.
This is the reason that more than 300 members of the University of Rhode Island community are participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life fundraiser tonight at 6 p.m.
Sophomore Andrew O'Brien, one of the students participating in the event, said the relay is especially important to him because he was diagnosed with cancer during his senior year of high school.
"I was a high school football player, just a normal kid, but I ended up spending the last six months of my senior year in and out of the hospital," O'Brien said.
Throughout cycles of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, O'Brien maintained a positive outlook, focusing only on overcoming the disease.
"I always looked at it as more of a task," he said. "I never saw it as a sickness. It was something I needed to get done."
O'Brien has participated in Relay for Life for the past two years, although a friend ran for him three years ago when O'Brien was too sick to participate.
O'Brien has been cancer-free since May 2007. He said the relay is inspirational in the way it unifies people, creating opportunities for dialogue and support systems.
"Everyone knows someone with cancer, but we rarely talk to each other about it and so we don't realize who we know who knows someone with cancer," he said. "This idea that cancer is this issue that you can't talk about is something that needs to stop."
O'Brien said he hopes to see a good turnout this year and encourages students who are not participating to stop by and cheer on the teams.
"It's a lot more than raising money," he said. "We're spreading awareness and it's a lot of fun too. We're infusing fun into an issue that's really not fun, and giving people a place to tell their stories and deal with the issue."
These statistics are an indication that most people will be affected by cancer at some point, whether through friends, relatives or firsthand experience.
This is the reason that more than 300 members of the University of Rhode Island community are participating in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life fundraiser tonight at 6 p.m.
Sophomore Andrew O'Brien, one of the students participating in the event, said the relay is especially important to him because he was diagnosed with cancer during his senior year of high school.
"I was a high school football player, just a normal kid, but I ended up spending the last six months of my senior year in and out of the hospital," O'Brien said.
Throughout cycles of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery, O'Brien maintained a positive outlook, focusing only on overcoming the disease.
"I always looked at it as more of a task," he said. "I never saw it as a sickness. It was something I needed to get done."
O'Brien has participated in Relay for Life for the past two years, although a friend ran for him three years ago when O'Brien was too sick to participate.
O'Brien has been cancer-free since May 2007. He said the relay is inspirational in the way it unifies people, creating opportunities for dialogue and support systems.
"Everyone knows someone with cancer, but we rarely talk to each other about it and so we don't realize who we know who knows someone with cancer," he said. "This idea that cancer is this issue that you can't talk about is something that needs to stop."
O'Brien said he hopes to see a good turnout this year and encourages students who are not participating to stop by and cheer on the teams.
"It's a lot more than raising money," he said. "We're spreading awareness and it's a lot of fun too. We're infusing fun into an issue that's really not fun, and giving people a place to tell their stories and deal with the issue."
