Each year in the USA the American Cancer Society organizes an event to help raise awareness about this disease. It is an event that takes place in numerous communities across the USA and is called “Relay for Life”. The event itself because it is so big will normally take place in a local park, fairground or field or gymnasium at the local high school.

The people who participate do so as teams and throughout the event they take it in turns to run or walk a lap. These people are then sponsored by others for every lap they complete either as an individual as a team and the money raised helps towards fighting cancer. As well as the funds being used to raise awareness of this disease the funds raised are also used to carry out research to help prevent it.

However, before the actual “Relay for Life” event begins a Luminaria Ceremony is held. At the commencement of this candles or glow sticks are lit and held up to remember those who have lost their battle against this particular disease. Following the lighting of the candles or the raising of glow sticks then some prayers will be said followed by a minutes silence to help those remember those they have lost.

This event as mentioned above takes place overnight so many of the participants will camp out in tents close to where the relay is taking place. At many of these campsites the participants have the chance to place in bags lighted candles or glow sticks outside their tents if they want. But due to issues regarding safety most people today are placing several yellow glow sticks into bags outside their tents rather than lighted candles, also many will carry lighted candles or glow sticks as they complete their laps throughout the night.

Many of the campsites will be awash with the light of the candles and the yellow glow sticks even before the Luminaria Ceremony starts. Most participants will choose to light theirs as dusk falls in order to create the right sort of mood for such an important event.

The best thing about using glow sticks rather than candles is that should the weather turn a little inclement it won’t affect them. Also many people use them on the ground to spell out words that have some importance to them such as “Hope” or “Cure”.

As well as the participants using candles and glow sticks during the event many of them also wear Hope bracelets. They wear these to show to others just how strongly they care about this cause and not only when they are participating in “Relay for Life”. These bracelets come in many different colors, but often it is the pink ones that are most often associated with the fight against cancer.

It is through the “Relay for Life” event and people wearing the Hope bracelets that more and more of us are becoming aware of what effect cancer has on other people’s lives. It is through these events that the money raised is being used in effective ways to not only help treat but prevent the disease and so the number of lives is being lost to it each year is being reduced.

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