Support cancer patients, survivors at Light the Night

By Gillian Slade on September 11, 2018.

gslade@medicinehatnews.com  @MHNGillianSlade

For those whose lives have been touched by cancer, Saturday’s Light the Night Walk is about showing support, remembering how lives have been affected and raising funds.

The event takes place at Echo Dale Regional Park with registration at 6 p.m. and the 3 km walk and lantern ceremony commencing at 7:30 p.m. It is hosted by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.

The walk is an opportunity to celebrate survivors and remember those lost. Walking with red lanterns to show support, white lanterns are for patients and survivors and gold lanterns in memory of loved ones lost.

Bella Marroquin of Medicine Hat will participate for the second year, this time able to celebrate her cancer treatment being complete.

Marroquin was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia on Feb. 4, 2016 when she was just 29 years old. The treatment she needed was not available locally and she had to move to Calgary for a year.

The circumstances for her 30th birthday were very different than she had envisioned but she completed her cancer treatment in May this year.

“I am now cancer free, a cancer survivor — but really a cancer thriver,” said Marroquin. “I will thrive each day to welcome new opportunities in this new life.”

Marroquin and her family moved here from El Salvador so it was her local family who supported her through treatment while her extended family is still in El Salvador.

The Light the Night Walk is about supporting those in the community who are going through treatment for cancer and also those whose lives have been touched by cancer, she said.

“So grateful for all my family, friends and my community for the amazing support, they each were pillars for my family and I. We fought and we won this battle together,” said Marroquin, who still has checkups every six weeks.

She has lingering side-effects from the treatment but feels fortunate to still be here.

Light the Night Walk is about taking steps to end blood cancer. Cancer has affected so many,and this night is an opportunity to come together and show support for patients and families.

You can still register to participate. There is no fee and no minimum commitment., but each participant is encouraged to fundraise $100 and become a champion for cures to earn a lantern and T-shirt.

More information is available at lightthenight.ca.

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