Walk This Way

Dickinson volunteers sought for May 18-19 Relay for Life

April 17, 2007

The Relay for Life, which was held at Dickinson's Biddle Field in 2003, will take place this year at Carlisle High School.

Carlisle's annual Relay for Life comes at an inconvenient time for Dickinson College—Commencement weekend. But then cancer never strikes when it's convenient.

Team Dickinson, a group of college employees, students and their families, hopes to get round-the-clock participation in this year's Relay for Life, which will be held for 24 hours starting at 6 p.m. Friday, May 18, at the Carlisle High School track. Proceeds from the walk, and the fund-raisers leading up to it, benefit the American Cancer Society.

Each weekday at lunchtime, Susie Thorn, an administrative assistant in facilities management, notices dozens of Dickinson employees and students getting their exercise by walking on campus and the streets of Carlisle. If some of those employees, students and their families would volunteer to walk just for an hour at the Relay for Life and help represent Dickinson by covering the entire 24-hour period, Thorn will consider the event a huge success.

More walkers needed

"I've been really pleased with the fund-raising events, the team participation and the campuswide support this past year," said Thorn. "Along with our fund raising, one of our goals has always been to get more walkers involved on relay weekend. Once you get out there, it gets you. If it doesn't get you, then something's wrong."

The "it" at the Relay for Life is the impact cancer has on lives. Millions of families have been affected, either directly or indirectly, by the disease, and the Relay for Life brings together survivors and mourners in a shared tribute that highlights the enormity of that impact.

At the start of the relay, cancer survivors are brought down from the stands, one by one, to open the weekend with a ceremonial victory lap. As dusk settles in, the track is surrounded by hundreds of luminaries—lighted candles in paper bags—purchased as glowing memorials for loved ones who have survived or died from cancer. Back in the stands, the luminary candles are arranged to spell out the word "HOPE." This year, Team Dickinson is sponsoring the letter "P."

Cancer hits home

Like many others at the Relay for Life, Thorn has been affected by cancer. Her mother is a colon-cancer survivor. Her cousin's son, Tyler, stricken with cancer at a young age, also is a survivor. And in 2001, Thorn's husband Pete was diagnosed with a rare fibromyxoid sarcoma in his thigh.

Only days after being diagnosed, Pete Thorn participated in the opening lap at the Relay for Life as his wife, sobbing, looked on. He would later undergo surgery to remove the softball-size tumor, followed by radiation treatment. A year later, at the 2002 Relay for Life, Pete Thorn and his oncologist walked laps together.

As she watched her husband circle the track in 2002, Thorn said she was thankful for the opportunities for survival provided by the American Cancer Society. She said she hopes more Dickinson volunteers will share the moving experience.

If you would like to volunteer to represent Team Dickinson in the May 18-19 Relay for Life at Carlisle High School, contact Susie Thorn at 245-1272 or thorn@dickinson.edu.

You can also check out the Relay weekend activities at www.acsevents.org/relay/pa/carlisle.