Survivors and Superheroes: DeSales Honors Those Impacted by Cancer at Relay for Life
With more than 200 attendees and $25,000 raised, this year’s Relay for Life saw the DeSales community unite in full force in the fight against cancer.
Every year, the Colleges Against Cancer club hosts its Relay for Life event to fund cancer research, provide free resources, and help with cancer prevention and treatment. Each participating club, organization, and department helped raise funds through activity stations and had one of its representatives continuously walk around the designated course.
This year’s superhero theme emphasized the immense willpower and perseverance embodied by all those who have been touched by cancer.
“Everyone who is fighting cancer is our hero,” said Morgan Landau ’24, the club’s president, who lost her father and other loved ones to this disease. “Cancer impacts the life of every one of us, and no one can do this alone.”
Throughout the night, various cancer survivors and fighters shared their stories. Katelyn Verba ’24, a nursing major, spoke about her fight with leukemia as a child and how her goal to be a pediatric nurse was inspired by the compassionate medical professionals who treated her.
“I want to make it a little bit easier for these children to endure something that’s unimaginably painful.”
Bailey Unterkofler ’27, a sport management major and women’s lacrosse player, shared her story of fighting lymphoma while in high school and college and how she hopes telling her story at events like Relay can be impactful.
“When stories and journeys overlap, it helps unite people,” Unterkofler said.
This sentiment of unity and hope was echoed by Melissa Reilly, coordinator of Gateway to Success, who fought Hodgkin’s lymphoma as a teenager.
“Be the light of hope for someone else because your story, like mine, could be the story of hope that allows someone to endure tomorrow,” Reilly said.
Alongside the Relay, various activity stations, and speakers, there was also the annual Survivor’s Dinner for all those who have fought their battles and the loved ones who stood beside them.
“Being able to help the community—even by just providing them a free, warm meal—is exactly what Relay is about,” said Evan Colburn ’26, a healthcare administration and accounting double major, whose mother and grandmother both fought cancer. “Building this sense of community is what helps everyone ‘Be who they are, and be that well.’”
As a formal close to this year’s Relay for Life, everyone took a remembrance lap in honor of all those who were taken by cancer. This final lap featured the course lined with bags inscribed with the names of loved ones. Inside each bag, glowing candles symbolized both the memory of those who passed and the enduring hope for all those currently impacted by cancer.