PITTSBURGH — For University of Pittsburgh junior Katie Ghobrial, fighting cancer looks less like a race and more like a carnival.
Ghobrial, president of the campus chapter of the American Cancer Society, is helping lead preparations for Relay For Life, a Monopoly-themed fundraiser set for Friday, April 10, from 5 to 10 p.m. at the new Recreation and Wellness Center. The event aims to have over 150 participants and will feature games, raffles, pickleball and other activities for participants to engage in.
“Pretty much every single ACS branch has one every year,” Ghobrial said, noting that Pitt’s is believed to be the only college Relay For Life left in Pittsburgh. Local businesses donate items for raffles, which the club uses as its “Community Chest,” while students form teams through fraternities, pre-health groups and service clubs.
The night’s emotional centerpiece is the luminaria ceremony, when participants decorate white paper bags honoring loved ones affected by cancer and place them around the walking route, each lit from within. During the ceremony, Ghobrial and others ask attendees to crack glow sticks if they or relatives have faced cancer, a visual meant to show that everybody is impacted.
Fundraising and awareness stretch beyond the one night. The club collaborates with groups such as Crafting Change Club to make pipe cleaner flowers for patients at UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, where real flowers are often prohibited for infection-control reasons. Ghobrial said one hospital volunteer coordinator told her patients were so excited to see flowers for the first time since their treatment.
Ghobrial, who hopes to become an oncologist, said members come from a range of majors, many motivated by personal ties to the disease. She encourages anyone interested to search “Relay For Life Pitt” online and register themselves with their friends.