Relay for Life hopes to raise $80,000 this weekend


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Shannon Millard/Staff Photographer Burton resident, Luisa Radzin has been coming to Relay for Life every year since 2008 when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Six years later Radzin is caner free. Relay for Life is a 24-hour fundraising event that raises money for The American Cancer Society and this years theme at the Indoor Athletic Complex Saturday was Disney.

Colleges Against Cancer is hoping to raise $80,000 on Saturday during this year's Relay for Life. 

The event will start at 11 a.m. and continue until 2 a.m. Sunday. It is being held in the Indoor Athletic Complex.

Relay for Life is a walk or run that brings awareness to survivors of cancer. Organizers are expecting to have a turn out of about 2,000 people.

“There’s always someone fighting for cancer and we just want to make the whole campus aware and knowledgeable about the cause,” said Dearborn junior Stacy Malinowski.

The money raised will go to the American Cancer Society, which will use it for cancer research. The society is also associated with the Hope Lodge, where cancer patients and their families can stay during treatments. These venues are placed near hospitals so it is more convenient for patients to attend treatments.

The organization is hoping to have as many survivors as possible to participate. Many parts of the event are dedicated to cancer survivors, one being a special survivors' lap around the track after the opening ceremony.

“We put the relay on to show that we’re celebrating people who have survived cancer, who are fighting cancer so that we can remember those who we have lost from cancer,” Malinowski said.

Relay is normally a 24-hour event, but this year is different.

“Relay events around the world are cutting it down to 12 or 15 hours just because we have more people stay during those hours,” said Southgate senior Lacey Johnson.

The relay will also be superhero-themed. The organizers are hoping superheroes can be thought of as survivors or people who have done well in the world.

Though Relay strives to bring awareness to cancer, there is one message that Malinowski strongly stated. 

“We fight back to show that cancer never sleeps and neither do we.”

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