Stepp said he was diagnosed with stage-four osteosarcoma, a form of bone cancer, in high school. He was given a 10 percent chance of living. In his three years receiving treatment from the UNM Children’s Hospital, he went through 98 chemotherapies and nine surgeries.
“Sometimes we forget that right across the street there are 62,000 kids a year fighting for their lives. The least we can do is take the time to brighten up those kids’ days and show them Lobo love,” Stepp said. “A lot of these kids just want friends.”
This was one of the few ways that Stepp was able to cope with his cancer, by ensuring that other children had an easy battle.
“I would hang out with kids all the time, and I would be visiting with them because no child should ever fight alone,” Stepp said.
This year Stepp has partnered with UNM Student Affairs to create “Lobo Love” for Random Acts of Kindness Week.
UNM has adopted this week-long event to help spread kindness and benefit the community. Many organizations are promoting kindness through 13 different events located throughout campus.
Student Affairs Chief Operations Officer Kim Kloeppel said the purpose of the week is to bring a focus on being kind and use it to combat negativity in the world.
Kloeppel also said she hopes the week will make people look into the National Random Acts of Kindness foundation.
“For me, it’s just so simple and easy to do. It’s a way to make it a better world,” Kloeppel said.
Cindy Mason, unit administrator for Student Affairs, said the designated week is to emphasize and promote kindness as well as to give back.
“I think it’s a given that you’re going to honor the loved ones in your life, but I think (this week) is taking it a step beyond that to love people in general,” Mason said.
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Mason said she thinks people often forget the importance of staying in touch with people they have previously helped. People can be more kind by keeping communication and support open to those who reach out them.
UNM events and activities for the week include the NMEFCU teddy bear drive and the Valentine’s Day “creation stations” throughout the week.
Dorene DiNaro, Student Affairs program planning manager, said Student Affairs is hoping to get enough Valentine’s Day cards so they can also distribute them to people in the Veterans Hospital. She also said she hopes this week will show people all the ways they can be kind and do good things.
“You don’t hear enough about the good things that people are doing. The sensationalism that comes out of the bad things is what we normally hear about,” DiNaro said. “I think promoting the good things is just a step in the right direction because it will snowball and more and more people will do good things.”
Skylar Griego is a culture reporter for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at culture@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
