Relay for Life is an organization that has helped millions of people fight all different types of cancers. There’s truth in the saying, “One person can make a difference.” This group began within the confines of Tacoma, Wash., in the mid-1980s with a man named Dr. Gordy Klatt. Dr. Klatt is a colorectal surgeon who wanted to help out with fundraising for his local American Cancer Society chapter.
How do you lift the spirits of seriously ill children, some fighting for their lives? It might seem difficult, but this is what Starlight Children’s Foundation MidAtlantic does so well.
Three years ago, my three sisters and I were doing some spring-cleaning when we realized that we had a lot of children's videos that we had either outgrown or no longer watched. We remembered how a few years earlier, when my friend Alex had been in the hospital being treated for Leukemia, she would watch movies to pass the time. We decided to take our videos to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the hospital where Alex had been treated.
“Look at what you've produced, Jojo the Magnifico! You've done something beautiful.”
My heart jumped upon hearing those words from Professor Zee, a professional clown. With a beaming smile, I looked around to see a dozen of my peers dressed as clowns with makeup and rainbow hair, making balloon animals—and making a difference. I saw my friends bring laughter and joy to the otherwise mundane lives of the patients we were visiting in a nursing home.
