Lindsey McKenna stood underneath the tent on Saturday morning, but no one begrudged her that. Everyone else was silent, rapt, in the cold and the rain and the mud, but her story was much too much for anyone to notice the weather and it put to shame any fleeting discomforts.
Cancer infested Lindsey's brain when she was 15 years old, a malignant tumor for her family, too, not metastasizing neoplasms in their bodies, but anguish in their hearts. And so when Lindsey stood up, a BC freshman and a survivor, at the end of the Relay for Life this weekend in Cleveland Circle, her story of conquering the disease became the story of the people there to hear it. Four bouts with chemo, 28 radiation treatments, all the trappings of the disease that afflicts one in three Americans, and still she stood there, adorable, smiling.
Earlier, small white bags holding candles had ringed an ad hoc camp of tents, a crowd of people who know someone who has beaten cancer or has died of it. From six o'clock on Friday night until just before 11 on Saturday morning, people walked around the bags.The walkers, 800 or so, raised more than $82,000 and counting, money that goes to the American Cancer Society. In the first year the ACS has arranged for on-line donations, Cleveland Circle hosted the most successful on-line event in New England, number two nationwide.
Jay Wayshak has been organizing these things for five years. "This was by far the most enthusiastic, emotional, passionate one that I've helped put on," he says. "Yeah, it was amazing. Amazing."
More shameful than amazing is that our school said it couldn't take place here. Relay organizers asked BC if they could stage the relay on Shea Field. Our administration said, simply, "No," and anyone with a pulse gritted their teeth. Wayshak says he was "shocked."
Sadly, I'm not shocked as much as I am appalled. A callous and dollar-driven decision from BC administrators isn't anything new. Wayshak says that of 140 colleges whose students put on relays, we were the only school that didn't offer its campus to what you might understate as a worthy cause. The condition of Shea Field, an understandable concern given recent weather, wasn't a primary concern, according to Wayshak and UGBC Community Affairs officer Tom Millar. No, BC was worried about liability. This, despite the fact that ACS insures the event. They were worried about appearances. This, despite the fact that the relay came off without incident (though a few walkers fortified themselves with visits to a fortification-providing establishment across the street). "God forbid something happens at the relay and the next thing you know it's in the paper," scoffs Wayshak. They were worried about welcoming students from other schools onto campus. Kids from Northeastern, WPI, UNH, Emerson, UMass, and Harvard walked and raised money that might one day fund a cure. Imagine that. Fears about diversity at BC.
Spring Break
