08
FEBRUARY 2013
service
Every Step Counts:
Strides to End Breast Cancer
Madalyn Freeman
UN Las Vegas
The Strides to End Breast Cancer
was and event that meant a lot to
me. Roughly 30 years ago my grandmother was diagnosed with breast
cancer. My grandmother fought for
six months before she had lost the
battle. Although I was not yet born
when this occurred my mother would
always tell me stories about her and
about how great of a person she was.
It seemed cruel to know that such a
gentle and genuine person could be
a victim of such a ruthless and relentless disease. Since I was a young boy
knowing of my grandmothers suffering, I had made a vow to do whatever
it will take to help or aid to stop the
murder of innocent people from this
disease.
Now with the actual event, I would
say it was very successful. Although
we had to wake up quite early it was
definitely worth it. The event was
held at the JW Marriott up in Summelrin. The area was gorgeous! We
all arrived at the JW Marriott roughly
around 6:30am. There were so many
sponsors at the event. I think I can
speak for us all when I say that Starbucks was our favorite. They were
giving away free passion fruit teas!
By the time it hit 7:00, hundreds
upon hundreds of volunteers and
walkers had started to pour in and the
event was preparing to kick off. As we
waited for the rest of the members to
arrive at the event some of us headed
down to our designated zone where
we were assigned with the two mile
mark.
Once we were all settled at our
zone spot we awaited the walkers
to slowly flood the streets. As the
walkers passed us we would cheer
them on with a “U-R-O-C-K! You Rock!
You Rock!”, along with many other
cheers. The walkers seemed very energetic and happy with the event.
As we kept cheering them on we
were greeted with countless compliments for our support. Aside from
the cheering and support we were
giving towards the walkers and survivors, There was definitely a warm
feeling inside with the realization that
these survivors, supporters, and maybe even some who is currently diagnosed have so much faith and energy
to help rid of this horrible disease. It
was a real eye opener for me and I
feel that this was a truly touching and
inspiring event to be a part of.
As the walk had come to a close, we
had all walked back to the JW Marriott parking lot where we waited for
the closing of the event. As the participants slowly left we had started to
help the American Cancer Society Advisors by working on breaking down
the lot. We had gone and collected all
the chairs and tables as we stacked
them on a cart. The most tedious
work had to be the loading of all the
left over water cases.
As we finished loading the water,
we all thought we were done. Sadly,
we were wrong. The water that we
had loaded we later had to unload
at the warehouse storage for their
next event. Although it was long hard
work at the end it paid off. The advisors of the American Cancer Society
was kind enough to treating us with
pizza for lunch after we were done.
We relaxed in their conference room
as we ate and talked.
At the end even with all the hard
work that we had done, it was truly
an amazing and fun experience. I will
definitely attend this event and urge
anyone who can go to attend!