A local school spent their Friday raising awareness for a cause that hits close to home, and thanks in part to the continued efforts of one student advocating for cancer survivors.
Lauren Cunningham is a sophomore at Bath High School who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 9. She has since beaten cancer and continues to fight the disease with numerous fundraisers and events. On Friday, she helped put on a Relay for Life at her school.
To Cunningham, it’s not just about her survivor story. The Relay for Life celebrated all of the survivors at her school including three other students, the food service supervisor, and the superintendent.
Cunningham says, “When I was diagnosed, I was the only student from Bath and I just think, if I was in that situation, I would want someone that had been through it from my school to be like, 'I’m here for you' and supporting me.”
Although the school has been holding a Relay for Life every year, it was Cunningham’s idea to include and highlight the people in her community that shared the same experience of battling cancer.
Rich Dackin, the superintendent of Bath schools who also beat cancer says, “The biggest thing of knowing Lauren, her and her family have been impacted by cancer but yet she turns it around and is thinking about others and how it’s impacted them and trying to share that with everybody knowing that cancer affects so many lives.”
The track at the school was filled with people all day that came to show their support and help rally together for the fight against cancer. Students and staff took the track throughout the day, and many community members and parents showed up too.
The group of survivors took a lap around the track in solidarity and to show their resilience against the disease that affects nearly two million people each year in the country.
Cunningham says, “It meant a lot to all of us to see everyone else walking for us and then to be able to walk the survivor's lap just to show we’re here, we made it, and now we’re walking for other people like us.”
Cunningham is also known for her efforts in organizing several blood drives, collecting pop can tabs, writing cards to local kids fighting cancer, and even a Pelotonia bike ride fundraiser where she rode her bike to different families that have been affected by cancer.
