On June 21, Huntsville High School (HHS) students held a 12-hour Relay For Life. The goal: to raise $30,000 for the Canadian Cancer Society.<\/p>\n
More than 200 students and teachers on almost 40 relay teams with names like Sweat for Survival, Up All Night for the Fight, and OnTrac: Teachers Running Against Cancer committed to walk the track at Huntsville’s Lookout Field from noon until midnight.<\/p>\n
It’s a disease that many of the students have been affected by in their own lives.<\/p>\n
“We have all been touched by cancer in one way or another and today we will honour and celebrate our loved ones and their battles,” said Emma Solecki, one of the student organizers, adding that her good friend Emma Collins, her aunt and her granddad are the people in her own life who have fought or are currently fighting the disease.<\/p>\n
“We have come here today for different reasons, but also for the same reason: because an estimated 131,300 cases of cancer will be diagnosed in Canada this year and an estimated 76,000 Canadians will lose their lives,” said Solecki. “These are our families, friends and neighbours, the people we love and care about. We are here because we have the power to fight cancer and save lives.”<\/p>\n
In the video below, Solecki’s friend and fellow HHS student Emma Collins talks about her current, and second, battle with cancer\u2014she relapsed just two days before prom this year. She and other cancer survivors led the relay teams on their first lap at the Lookout Field.<\/p>\n