On Nov. 2, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk participants and spectators marveled at the evening sky at Petco Park as the horizon was transformed into a brilliant tapestry of woven red, white and golden beams of light. The event featured crowds of walkers carrying illuminated balloons representing their personal connections to blood cancer. Cure supporters covered the darkness with radiant gleams of red. Blood cancer patients and survivors persevered with a glow of white, while the glimmer of gold shined bright in memory of loved ones lost.
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s mission is to “cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.” Teams, individuals, sponsors and partners joined together to celebrate raising approximately $600,000 to fund blood cancer research.
Several San Diego State student organizations fundraised for a cure and participated in the walk.
SDSU hospitality and tourism management sophomore Alexa DiAntonio is one of many Delta Zeta sorority members who participated in Light The Night this year. Her personal connection to blood cancer motivated her to walk.
“My dad had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and has been in remission as of August. I feel like we are the young people that can actually make a difference,” DiAntonio said. “Personally, at this point in my life, I feel like I am not relying on my parents anymore to make a difference.”
DiAntonio explained how Light The Night stands out from other cancer fundraisers.
“A lot of other walks or runs are early in the morning or during the day,” she said. “But Light The Night, with the different colored lights, really makes an impact and shows what we are walking for.”
Indeed, many individuals walk in Light The Night to honor their heroes who lost their cancer battles. A candlelit remembrance ceremony provided time for emotional reflection. Multiple teams held golden balloons, customized T-shirts and named their teams in honor of a loved one who passed away from cancer. Onlookers peered through a window display to view illuminated pictures of cancer patients, survivors and lost loved ones. Instead of focusing on statistics, the faces in the pictures reminded walkers that cancer can affect everyone in some way.
Nursing senior Heather Phillips believes cancer research is crucial.
Phillips served as captain for the SDSU School of Nursing team.
“As nursing students, we try to do a lot of events like this in the community to raise awareness about different diseases such as leukemia and lymphoma,” Phillips said. “It is important for college students to get involved with things like this.”
The nursing team of 25 members surpassed its fundraising goals by raising $1,200. Although Phillips is graduating this year, she believes her peers will continue to support the cause.
“Being there at night is so much more intimate than a walk during the day and it is such a special event,” Phillips said. “This is our third year doing the walk, so we are trying to carry on the tradition. Whoever takes over my position next year will definitively have a full nursing team again.”
At the walk, the SDSU College of Business Administration wore red T-shirts and glowing necklaces. CBA Dean Dr. Michael Cunningham’s nephew is a cancer survivor who inspired the team’s inception. CBA communications officer for the Suzanne Finch was excited to participate after a largely successful season last year.
“Last year we started a team for Light The Night and it was a lot of fun since we had the biggest group of walkers at 51 people,” Finch said. “Not only did we have a great time, but we raised over $15,000 total for leukemia and Hodgkin’s disease research”
Finch explained how the dedication of the team stems from being a part of a greater entity.
“The best part is the camaraderie and having a large group of people who are all interested in raising money for cancer research, and we all have a common thing being from San Diego State,” she said.
Hundreds of other teams return every year for the reasons Finch described. Light The Night attracts people because they can contribute to a cause they care about with the people they love. Although the walk is only one night, several team members start fundraising months in advance. There is a definite sense of communal support that manifests itself with generous donations. Walkers were excited to celebrate their fundraising success. Teams had fun, got silly in the photo booth, live music filled the arena, children jumped on beans in the inflatable bounce house, and participants danced with a life- size Wendy’s Frosty.
Senior Maricar Navarro, vice president of activities for the Student Accounting Society, participated in the Light The Night Walk for her first time. Navarro used social media to meet her fundraising goal.
“I am actually getting a lot of my friends and family involved with it by posting the information on Facebook to try and raise funds from them or have them actually participate in the walk” Navarro said.
SAS also raised funds as a group with profits from group T-shirt sales and donated extra money from its budget.
“We were able to generate enough money from the event we put together called Meet The Firms,” Navarro said. “Since we had a lot of members who joined this year, after careful allocation and budgeting, we were able to donate some of that amount toward Light The Night.”
Cancer is a looming darkness that consumes patients and their families. The word itself immediately invokes fear and uncertainty. However, the Light The Night campaign is the embodiment of hope. Supporters both literally and metaphorically, shined their lights to eradicate darkness. One drug, event, person, dollar or even one balloon could be the factor that tips the scale toward recovery. The campaigns hope is for our generation to be known as the one who stood up and beat cancer.
