Students aim to stamp out cancer

By ALISSA EATON - aeaton@sungazette.com
Generation Y is often stereotyped as having a poor work ethic and not caring about important causes, but area teens proved that isn’t the case by organizing an All-Youth Relay for Life.

The event began Friday night at 6 p.m. and will end this morning at 6 a.m. Teams of anywhere from 3 to 18 people participate in the event and must have one team member walking the track at all times.

Lycoming College Recreation Center hosted the event and U.S. Rep. Chris Carney, D-Dimock, was the keynote speaker at the opening ceremony.

Carney, a cancer survivor himself, said that cancer touches everyone.

“Those who have been diagnosed with cancer usually think of it as a death sentence, but it is not,” Carney said. And there were six other survivors at the event that took the first lap, dubbed the survivor lap around the track with Carney.

An emotional co-chairman of the event, Nick Hessert, a student from Loyalsock High School was moved to tears when speaking about the people he knows that have been impacted by cancer.

“It’s amazing the things we can do, the money we can raise and the people we can help,” Hessert said.

Two cancer survivors that came to walk in the survivor lap were Amy Kehrer of Montoursville and Virla Ocker of Williamsport.

Kehrer has thyroid cancer and was there as a fighter. She has a doctor’s appointment Monday to get information about a biopsy she recently had.

She was accompanied by her one-year-old, three-pound miniature Chihuahua “Gracie.”

“By the Grace of God, I am still here and that is how Gracie got her name,” Kehrer said.

Kehrer said events like Relay for Life help people not be so afraid of the disease. “It really takes that fear away,” she said.

Ocker, who also walked the survivor lap, is a survivor of multiple cancers: esophageal, breast and brain, is in remission now has was diagnosed with her first form of cancer more than 25 years.

“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for the support of my friends and family,” Ocker said. She also said events like Relay help spread awareness.

So far the area youth raised more than $10,000 for the event and were still busy raising money up until the end of the event so a final total is still unknown.

As co-chair, Hessert said he hopes more youth learn about the event and get involved with it. “I really want to see this event grow,” Hessert said.