Student fundraiser for fight against cancer a big success
M’CHIGEENG—Surpassing this year’s goal of raising $30,000 for Relay for Life through their “teamwork and school spirit,” Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS) raised a grand total of $38,251.70.
“The students should be very proud of themselves, they’ve done a great job,” Jamie Mohamed, principal of MSS said as he walked the track with his wife before jumping on stage to jam with Peter Nelson, music teacher at MSS.
MSS held its 7th Relay for Life Friday, June 2 from 6 pm until 6 am the next day. Many businesses donated money or services, including a band stand, courtesy of Manitoulin Transport. Other businesses included Island Grill and Chill, Outpost General Store, Anchor Inn, Island Jar, Main St. Café and NEMI Township, among many others.
“We haven’t raised this much money since the very first relay we held about 12 years ago,” Leslie Marshall, one of the organizers for the MSS Relay for Life, said. “We’re really happy about it.”
Twenty registered teams with at least 10 members per team meant over 200 people attended the Relay for Life Friday evening, not including family members and friends who came to support. The theme for this year’s event was “Kickin Cancer—Giving Cancer the Boot.”
The top team, Saddle Up, fundraised $3,676.70, while Cancer Kickin’ Hillbillies raised $1,000 and Crazy Canadian Kids raised $775.
According to the organizers, students found a variety of ways to fundraise including car washes, bake sales, haircuts and a host of other activities. Each team member was encouraged to fundraise $100 each.
Activities were planned throughout the evening, including tug o’ war, a head shaving station, live music and morning yoga to get one last stretch before walking the track for the last time.
Kagawong Folk Roots Collective played in support of their friend and bandmate, Don Bainbridge, who they lost to cancer in March of this year. A luminary was also placed in honour of him around the track.
“The opening ceremonies were awesome, we had over 30 survivors piped in with the honour guard and they were given the honour of the first lap,” Ms. Marshall said. “By 10 o’clock, we have our luminary ceremony and we light over 300 luminaries placed around the track.”
Ms. Marshall said the first lap of the relay, known as the victory lap, is dedicated and reserved for the cancer survivors who wish to walk the track. After the victory lap, a member of each team must always be walking the track, symbolizing the struggle a person with cancer faces every day.
According to the Relay for Life website, the luminaries represent a way to honour or remember a loved-one who has been diagnosed or lost to cancer; a way to show your support as you light the way around the path the team members walk throughout the night. Before a moment of silence and lighting the luminaries, Carissa Holliday read a speech and Kendra Jordison sang ‘Hallelujah.’
“For those whose memory we honour today, the lights burn for others to see, but it burns brightest in our hearts and souls,” Carissa said. “Though we do not see you, we know you are with us and we will always remember. As the light of the candle burns bright in the darkness, we are reminded of those who have been touched by cancer. Who we knew, or loved, and who are still fighting. Every luminary lit honours a person who has confronted or is still battling cancer.”
“Cancer does not rest and neither shall we. We will celebrate those who have survived the fight and most of all we will fight back against cancer. Together we can save lives. Cancer changes everything and so can we.”
Kendra Jordison also acted as this year’s survivor chair and gave a memorable speech at the event. She shared her own personal experience dealing with a parent who had cancer. At age 44, Kendra’s mom Charlene Jordison was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer.
“This news was a lot for my young mind to comprehend,” Kendra told the crowd. “I went into denial. I thought, ‘it’s okay. She is going to be fine. They got all the cancer in the surgery.’ They didn’t. The cancer had spread to my mom’s right lung. In October of the same year she underwent a lung surgery to remove this tumor.”
After six months of recovery followed by six months of chemotherapy and a host of side effects, Ms. Jordison “fought hard for her life” all the while keeping her family’s spirits lifted.
In September of 2015 the Jordisons learned that another tumor had grown, this time on her left lung. She again underwent surgery. A year later, after a routine CT scan, a third tumor was found, again in the lung.
“Last May my hope was drained,” Kendra said, “the hope that I had held onto so tightly for so long. We were deceived to think that no tumors were left in my mom’s lungs, that she was in remission. I let down my guard and believed that it could actually be the end this time. Forty-eight hours later we received a call informing us that she did not have one, but five tumors dispersed throughout both of her lungs. Everyone has a breaking point. That was mine.”
“For months doctors deliberated on what to do,” Kendra continued. “All the while I was slowly losing sight of the light. The summer was dark, filled with fear, sadness and confusion. The worst part was not knowing what was to come.”
Kendra shared that last November her mother began radiation on the largest of the five tumors. It was soon after this treatment that the position of Relay For Life survivor chair came up with Kendra “immediately jumping board. I knew I had to restore my hope or I would keep slipping away. The survivor chair position not only allows me to start gaining back my hope, but to help restore other people’s hope as well.”
Kendra explained that her family is still waiting to find out of the radiation treatment worked. “My mom still has four untreated tumors in her lungs, and likely a long journey ahead.”
“Hope is the most important thing to maintain throughout a cancer journey, not only for the people fighting cancer, but for their families as well,” the young woman continued. “If you lose hope you lose everything. Relay for Life provides a source of hope for survivors—warriors and families alike. It allows for a community to come together as one on support of one cause, one common goal. It gives people the strength to carry on and ignites the hope that may be flickering out.”
“I am relaying in support of my mom and in support of anyone who may need a spark of hope in their lives,” Kendra concluded. “Now I ask you, what will you relay for?”
REAL HAIR FOR A REAL CAUSE––Kendra Jordison, the Manitoulin Secondary School Relay for Life survivor chair, donated her long locks for the cause. Kendra and her family have first-hand experience with cancer as Kendra’s mother is currently battling the disease. The young woman gave a moving speech about her mother’s experience at the Relay for Life event.
