Relay For Life

Last night was amazing.  I was on my first Relay for Life Team with some co-workers from school. One of our colleagues, Mia Altamirano was diagnosed with Breast Cancer this past Fall. She is SO strong and has been missed every day at school.   Every week,  someone from Clear Spring makes a visit to her to keep her spirits up and of course to get our Mia fix.

Our Team name was in honor of Mia. We were called "Mia's Maniacs". Our coach, Michelle was our captain of the team and did an amazing job of organizing and getting every one pumped up for the big day. Purple sashes were made that said "Cinco de Mia" and we had plenty of fiesta wear to show our team spirit! I got to the stadium around 8:15 and walked until 9:30. During that time, there was an illuminaria lighting that was very moving. There were hundreds of white paper bags decorated in honor of people who are currently fighting or who have battled cancer before.  They put candles(battery operated) in each bag and turned off all the lights in the stadium. All the teams then did about two laps in complete silence while music played in the background. Although I am unsure of how many of those illuminarias    were for people who had lost their battle vs. how many were just in honor of people still fighting, it is astounding to see how many peoples lives have been affected by cancer. Then to think that  those bags are just a fraction of people whose lives have been changed forever.

It was a fun evening, we played ultimate frisbee, did the cha cha slide, sat around and talked, laughed and played volleyball. I went home at 12:30 but the event lasted all throughout the night! I was honored to be there in honor of our dear friend Mia and for all the other survivors and fighters.

If you want to see more on our friend Mia and our awesome Coach for putting this team together read this ARTICLE!!!