by Hayley McCullough
Daily Lobo
Walking around Johnson Field can help fight cancer.
"Everyone is affected by cancer," said Molly Maguire-Marshall, chairwoman of Colleges Against Cancer. "Everyone knows someone that has been affected by cancer, so it's something that everyone can get involved in and support."
Relay for Life is an all-night event in April that educates, advocates and fundraises for cancer research, said Louis Jeantete, president of the UNM chapter of Colleges Against Cancer.
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Participants form teams to walk around Johnson Field, and a member from each team walks around the field all night.
The kickoff event for Relay for Life is from noon to 1 p.m. Thursday in the SUB Ballroom.
This year's kickoff will honor cancer survivors, and people will be asked to say how cancer has affected them, he said.
Students, community members, faculty and staff will form teams for the April event, he said.
"We ask people to fight back and participate on a team," he said. "We will give them information to sign up right then and there."
Colleges Against Cancer will have a table set up every day in the SUB for the rest of the semester to encourage students to get involved with the organization, Jeantete said.
The money raised from the event will go to the American Cancer
Society.
The society is the second-largest provider of cancer research funds in the United States, Maguire-Marshall said.
"Something like 60 percent of the money the American Cancer Society spends on research comes directly from Relay for Life,"
she said.
Maguire-Marshall said a lot of cancer survivors are college-age.
"You'd be surprised how many college students have had cancer," she said. "The thing about college-age survivors is that they are ashamed to be recognized as cancer survivors, because they think that it's abnormal to have cancer at such a young age."
Colleges Against Cancer wants to show college-age cancer survivors they are not alone, she said.
"It's really sad they feel like they have to hide that, because cancer affects everyone from a couple of months to 90 years old," she said.
Matthew Griego, survivorship chairman of Colleges Against Cancer, said students don't want to admit they have cancer because it is associated with death.
"At such a young age, you don't think you have to talk about death or deal with death," he said. "You just want to live your life and enjoy it fully."
Griego was diagnosed with testicular cancer when he was 18. Eight years later, he is cancer-free.
"The doctors only gave me a 40 percent chance of surviving," he said. "I decided to fight back as long as I could, and I am still here today telling people that it is possible to fight and win their battles with cancer."
