By VICTORIA BORKOWSKI
Fordham student Amy Snopek, FCRH ‘14 shared her cancer story with attendees at Relay For Life on Saturday.
(Tessa Bloechl/The Ram)
For the first time in the history of Fordham’s Relay for Life, Edward’s Parade was transformed to host the sixth incarnation of the event this past Saturday.
The all-day relay event ran from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m. and featured various fundraising activities like raffles and paper lantern (“luminaria”) sales. Numerous musical acts also performed on the steps of Keating Hall, including DJ Pat McCarren, Fordham’s Satin Dolls and John Samaras, GSB ‘14. Students lined up to take part in the blow-up jousting area rented by the event coordinators.
Amy Snopek’s personal account of her battle with cancer was a major highlight of the event, as she addressed the Relay crowd that gathered by the front steps of Keating Hall before the official opening of the relay event.
“It’s a rare opportunity to speak to my peers about cancer,” she said. “I think we see people our parents’ age, our grandparents’ age with cancer, but when do we talk about young adults who have cancer? We don’t.”
Snopek described her battle with a stage-two, malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumor (a rare type of sarcoma) in her right wrist this past year.
“Everything hurt. I went through five weeks of radiation every day and had two surgeries,” she said. However, cheers immediately rang throughout the crowd when Snopek announced her most recent health update: “As of Monday I will be five months in remission, which is very exciting.”
According to Snopek, while there were many unique difficulties that she faced from the very beginning of her treatments, she found her own positive alternative to dealing with them.
“I learned that laughter really is the best medicine. When the doctor told me that this is a high-grade tumor, I would say, ‘Well, I’ve always prided myself in getting high grades, doctor. He may not have found it amusing, but to me, it made my day,’” she said, laughing. “Relay for Life is so important not just because we’re raising money for the cure, but because we celebrate and honor those who have fought.”
Following the opening ceremony, teams began to walk, jog or run laps around Edward’s Parade. Students acting as captains for their individual fundraising “teams,” helped set up tables, and made additional fundraising efforts around Eddie’s. Many of the students participating in the walk had set up accounts on Fordham’s Relay for Life website, which, according to the most recent update, have raised $26,225 in online donations. According to the Relay for Life at Fordham Facebook page, team members are hoping to raise over $45 thousand by the end of this August.
Another highlight of the event was the Luminaria Ceremony, an American Cancer Society tradition in which paper lanterns, each dedicated to fellow cancer survivors or lost loved ones, are lit around the Relay track.
Following this ceremony, participants were given a glowstick in honor of family and friends affected by cancer, and joined together to take several laps around Eddie’s “track” that was lit with over 100 personalized luminarias.
Ashley O’Reilly, FCRH ’16, serves on the Fordham’s executive committee for Relay for Life and the executive board for Colleges Against Cancer, a club on campus that coordinates students through the American Cancer Society.
O’Reilly spoke to The Fordham Ram about her experience as the team leader of the “Holy Guacamoles,” and described her involvement with Relay for Life as a personal goal to aid as many of those affected by cancer as possible. “My grandfather has cancer, but even besides that—I think everyone is affected by cancer,” she said.
Two of O’Reilly’s Colleges for Cancer peers, Jenna LaMagna, FCRH ’15, and Christina Giglio, FCRH ’15, served as the co-chairs for the event. LaMagna started out as a participant in her first Fordham Relay for Life her freshman year. She, as well as Giglio, both wanted to take a more administrative role in the club.
“We decided to join the [Relay for Life] committee the next year,” said LaMagna in an interview. “I ran the ceremonies part and she ran the entertainment part. This year we continue to work together as event co-chairs.”
The event has gained a lot of ground since the first time it was held in May of 1985.
“Relay for Life is the largest fundraiser for the American Cancer Society in the world,” said Giglio during her speech at the opening ceremony. “Every year it takes place in over 5,200 communities and over 20 countries across the world.”
Colleges Against Cancer hosts other events aside from Relay for Life.
“Whether we’re selling luminaria bags at McGinley Center or trying to get the word out, we try to do those small things every year in the hopes that everyone will come to our event,” LaMagna said. “This is our first year ever on Eddie’s and our first year doing it on a Saturday, so this is great publicity for us just being out here.”
It is the goal of the American Cancer Society, through the various fundraising events it hosts, to reduce, and eventually eliminate altogether, the number of Americans who hear the words “you have cancer” each year. As the number of participants grows, whether they are individuals or schools, so does the hope for the achievement of this goal.
