Rachel Seymour

Students camped out 6 p.m. Friday to 6 a.m. Saturday morning on Campanile hill for Relay for Life. When students took a break from walking the track at Memorial Stadium, they went to their tents on the hill to rest until their next scheduled walk.

Megan Nelson is a survivor.

This year’s Relay for Life was different for her from past years she had participated. The Garden City sophomore walked to raise awareness for the disease she fought and beat less than a year ago.

Cancer, she said, is a disease that affects everybody in some way. Nelson was diagnosed with melanoma in July 2004.

Nelson and her father, who is also a cancer survivor, walked with about 15 other cancer survivors on the track at Memorial Stadium on Friday for the third annual University of Kansas Relay for Life.

The event, which lasted from 6 p.m. Friday until 6 a.m. Saturday, was a fundraiser for the American Cancer Society.

About 70 teams, each with about 10 members, raised about $70,000, said Erin Adriance, chairwoman of KU Relay for Life. Another $9,000 was donated during the event, said Adriance, Stilwell senior.

“This was definitely our biggest year in terms of both people and money,” she said.

In the previous two years, about $55,000 was raised and about 60 teams signed up, Adriance said.

The money raised will help fund cancer research at the University and scholarships for students who have cancer, Adriance said.

The American Cancer Society gives the University of Kansas Medical Center money for cancer research raised through events like Relay for Life.

So far, the Med Center has received more than $2 million from the American Cancer Society, which helps fund clinical research and provides education for cancer patients, said

Steve Williamson, division

director for hematology and oncology at the Med Center.

“The money helps translate research into treatment for cancer patients,” Williamson said.

Aside from raising money, the event also helps raise awareness about the disease, which is the second leading cause of death among Americans, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

This year, more than 1,500 people will die each day from cancer, according to the CDC.

Cancer has greatly affected Megan Higley’s family. Her uncle was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and her grandfather, grandmother and another uncle all died of different types of cancer.

Higley, Overland Park junior, walked with a group from Sellards Scholarship Hall hoping that the money they raised would one day help find a cure.

“This is a chance for us to give back and try to help those who are less fortunate than us,” said Peter Montecuollo, Sioux Falls, S.D., graduate student.

— Edited by Laura Francoviglia