Posted on: Friday, April 1, 2005

RECREATION
Students take charge of UH relay for cancer

University of Hawai'i student Lauren Davis, front, lost her grandfather to cancer and is involved in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life. She will be joined by UH athletes and others in the community at the school's event at Cooke Field next Friday. Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser

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By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

About 4 1/2 years ago, Lauren Davis was at high school track practice when she was called away to the coach's office only to find her mother waiting to deliver bad news: Her grandfather had cancer.

Davis lost her "Papa" to colon cancer nine months later.

"He was like my father figure," said Davis, a 20-year-old University of Hawai'i student from Mesa, Ariz. "(After he got cancer) he wasn't the same. He just wasn't my grandpa, it wasn't the same old Papa."

Experiencing the loss of a loved one led to Davis' involvement in American Cancer Society's Relay For Life, organized by the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee at the University of Hawai'i.

"(Cancer is) one of those things that everyone has experienced or knows someone who's experienced it," said Davis, who also is a resident adviser at the UH dorms.

UH's Relay For Life begins next Friday at 7 p.m. at Cooke Field and ends at 7 a.m. the following day. During the event, teams keep one member walking the track at all times.

Relay For Life is designed to celebrate "survivorship" and raise money for research, advocacy, education and patient services programs of the American Cancer Society, according to the organization's Web site. Teams secure donations for their involvement in the relay. Other relays are planned around the state during the year.

UH organizers plan on creating a festive atmosphere for their event, complete with a volleyball net, rock-climbing wall, a karaoke/movie screen, balloon person, face-painting, a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and a cancer education meeting.

A candle-lighting ceremony to honor those who have been touched by cancer will take place, and UH athletes will be signing autographs.

"We're shooting for getting the community to come just to see what it is," said UH Relay For Life co-chairperson Doug Hussey, a cheerleader at UH.

Hussey said the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee plans on making UH's Relay For Life an annual event.

UH athletic teams, including men's and women's cheerleading, cross country, track and field, women's golf, football, softball, soccer, women's swimming, women's tennis and women's volleyball are involved.

Other organizations taking part in Relay For Life include the school's fraternities and sororities, academic departments, and student housing, which is how Davis got involved, as a team captain for Hale Kahawai/Laulima.

"(Papa) participated in Relay for Life," Davis said. "But he couldn't walk; he was so weak, they had to push him in a wheelchair."

Cancer affects one in three Americans in their lifetime, including more than 1 million new diagnoses this year, according to the American Cancer Society Web site.

The disease hit close to home when the younger sister of Tommy Heffernan, the head strength coach for UH athletics, was stricken with cancer.

Kalani Heffernan, 20, is suffering from lymphoma, "and Tommy has done so much for us," Hussey said.

Hussey also has another personal experience with lymphoma, when a friend he cheered with in high school died 1ý years ago.

"She was only 20, and it kind of got my interest going," Hussey said. "I don't want my kids or myself to ever hear, 'You have cancer.' "

UH swimmer Joy Symons was 18 when doctors discovered she had skin cancer on her right leg.

"I was shocked, and I think I held it together," said Symons, who said the doctors cut it out, "and I never really thought another thing about it."

Symons, 23, is the event's "survivorship" chairwoman.

"I never really thought of myself as a cancer survivor until I started working with the relay," she said.

Hussey said their goal for this year's event is to raise $100,000 and sign up 50 teams. As of Wednesday, they had raised nearly $17,000, with 38 teams.

"It's our outreach in the community in our effort to fight cancer," said Michelle Hashimoto, Relay For Life resource and information manager. "This is our way to activate our community to show them ways of research, education, advocacy and service. Part of the education is prevention and early detection."

Notes

The UH women's volleyball team is holding a car wash Sunday at the Chevron Station near Kahala Mall.

Locks of Love, a non-profit organization that provides hairpieces created with donated hair to disadvantaged children, will be there. Swimmer Joy Symons plans on shaving her head for the organization for Relay For Life donations.

For more information, to sign up for a team, or to donate money, go to www.acsevents.org/hi/relay/uhmanoa

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.