Relay for Life!

So for the majority of this post I am going to write about Relay for Life because that was the main event this week, however I'll quick fill you in on the first part of the week. Monday was seminar and theory class. In seminar we had a chiropractor and a massage therapist come talk to us. In theory class on both Monday and Tuesday we talked about brain injuries and CVA's. This past Wednesday and Thursday were are last two normal days at clinical in on the progressive care and burn unit. I had a great patient, one that I had couple of weeks ago, but a sad story. This coming week on Wednesday will be our last day there. Oh, and on Tuesday we had a blood drive and a bone marrow registry donor sign up - both of which I did! This was the 19th time I have given blood with MI Blood!

So Relay for Life was Friday from 6pm to Saturday morning at 6am. Thank you so very much to all the people that helped me reach my fund raising goal for this event. I was able to meet and surpass my goal. Relay for Life is an event were a number of people gather donations in support of finding a cure for cancer and remembering those who have died from cancer, are battling cancer, or are survivors of cancer. Throughout the whole time from 6 to 6 people are walking around the track also showing support. This event was super cool because its a bunch of college aged people all gathering together in support of Relay for life, to remember, to celebrate, and to fight back. I met a number of cool nursing friends from different classes, so that was cool! I got at the event at 6pm to see the openining ceremony which was about celebrating the survivors. They had the cancer survivors walk around the track with a caregiver and everyone else stood around the track and clapped and hooted and hollered as they walked past. It was so touching to see how much this simple act of supporting the survivors was affecting them in that moment!

Later in the night they also had a luminaria ceremony where the track is lined with white backs that students and participants have decorated with the names of people, in honor of or in memory of, that have faced cancer. They put a little light in the bag and turn off all the lights so it is pitch dark, except for the lighted bags. Then everyone walks around the track in complete silence. There were so many people and the track was so full it was hard to even walk, but this was such a deep and moving part of relay.

They also had other stuff going on through the night. Big inflatable games and obstacle courses, fear factor, minute to win it, cardboard box car competition (which the GV student nurses won!), and the Mr. Relay competition! I have added some pictures from Relay for Life this year and I hope that you enjoy looking at them! As a team Grand Valley State University raised more than $80,000 for Relay for Life!!!