Recently, many Aragon students have been participating and organizing various walks to raise money for cancer research, such as junior Olivia Maggi’s Walk for Bladder Cancer. Originally scheduled for this May, the event has been rescheduled for a later date in May 2013.
Maggi says, “I run marathons, so I tried to find a marathon that was for bladder cancer. There are none, so I just decided I’d make one for myself…I thought it’d be nice if I did it for my grandpa, because he died last summer [of bladder cancer]…[We’re trying] to raise money for bladder cancer research, because there isn’t as much for that as there is for breast cancer research and stuff.
“[Bladder cancer] kills just as many people as [other forms of cancer]; it’s just not as well known,” she says. According to the American Cancer Society, around 73,510 people were diagnosed with bladder cancer and 14,880 died as a result in 2011. She adds, “There really is not a lot of ways to stop it, because once your bladder has cancer, it just starts spreading around your body really quickly and the stages of it go really fast.”
Speaking about her vision for the event, Maggi explains, “I already have tons of ideas [for things] that I want to have at the [walk]. I want to have live bands…any bands that want to promote themselves or get a gig just to play for people. I know there are tons of local bands that are like that…[and] I want it to be 24 hours…We’re going to have to get people [living] around the school to let the lights go on at night. But if I have to cut it down to like 12 hours I won’t exactly be devastated…[I’m going to promote it] over the internet and at school, and posters around the neighborhood.”
In her efforts to create a walk for bladder cancer, Maggi was met with a myriad of obstacles. She notes, “[I started organizing the walk] probably like four months before, so it probably wasn’t enough time. Most of the tracks [I wanted to hold the walk at] were already taken. [Also], you need a thousand dollars to rent a track, but I obviously haven’t raised [that much].”
“A lot of people in our school donated,” says Maggi. “[Thanks to the Aragon Alumni] I have a couple hundred, so I’m getting there. I have to try to find a bigger company or just more people who could donate.”
Another walk fundraiser associated with Aragon students is the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life. Various Aragon students are volunteering for this walk, which will occur July 21 and 22 at the Aragon softball field.
Junior Tyler Bray, one of the several Aragon students volunteering in the Relay for Life, says, “We’re putting up posters and getting the word out. At the actual event, juniors Camille [Halley], Dana [Pierce] and I will be in charge of these little bags that people can decorate in honor of someone [with cancer], and then we put a candle inside of them. At night it lights the track and the area you’re supposed to walk on.”
“It’s just a relay, it’s not like a race or anything,” says junior Dana Pierce, another volunteer for Relay for Life. “You get sponsorships, and then after there’s a ceremony to honor those who have died of cancer.”
“Everyone should volunteer,” says Bray, happy about the work he’s doing towards cancer research. Along with the many other things Aragon students do for public service, fundraiser events like these are almost always a great success, raising heaps of money towards causes like cancer research. These fundraisers are expected to follow suit.
