The Cancer Society Relay for Life fund raiser raised almost $1,000,000 this year. The Relay for Life is a twenty-four hour event in which teams of participants walk or run around tracks, parks, athletic fields and other public places in relay for one day and one night. The events are intended to raise public awareness of various cancers as well as raise money to assist in research and treatment for cancer patients.

Students, volunteers and other participants take part in the event for various reasons, but many have had some form of personal brush with the disease. Doug Swain, a senior at the University of New Hampshire, walked the track with his team the UNH Superfriends Against Cancer. Doug’s late girlfriend was an inspiration for his part in the event. She passed away last year while suffering from two separate forms of cancer, one of which was mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma generally strikes victims that are much older. The disease is thought to be caused by exposure to asbestos, and generally takes decades to develop from the time of exposure. In the case of Doug’s late girlfriend Jess Fubel, doctors did not comment about the role mesothelioma played in her declining health, or about whether she may have been exposed to asbestos containing products.

The fund raising event at the University of New Hampshire was bolstered by bake sales, t-shirt sales, and other support efforts to increase the total raised. Groups of students took it upon themselves to make a real difference, working hard to raise significant funds and promote awareness in a real, lasting way. A group of young women who were students at the school organized a booth for taking hair donations, which will help in the production of wigs for cancer patients.

This year’s Relay for Life is the 25th of its kind. The events aim to inspire hope in those who are dealing with the affects of the disease personally, as well as increase public awareness of the disease’s prevalence in spite of decades of research.

While some forms of cancer such as mesothelioma can be linked with specific circumstances like asbestos exposure, many remain completely unexplained and appear to strike at random. Further research into the causes and possible treatments of cancer could help to discover medicines or treatment therapies for effectively combating one of least understood diseases of the twenty first century.

To learn more about the fight against cancer or what you can do to help, visit the American Cancer Society’s web page.