It was relay week at Sacred Heart/Sacré Coeur School last week, capped off with the Mini Relay for Life.
The school hosted events and fundraisers from Monday to Friday, with the mini relay held on May 31. The school had 10 local cancer survivors appear for the ceremony and complete the survivors' lap, before being joined by family and friends, and finally the school at large on the relay oval in the school's gymnasium.
Mary Antonenko is this year's honourary chair and she addressed the school before the luminary ceremony.
She was diagnosed with Stage 4 ovarian cancer in 2010 and underwent two surgeries and six rounds of chemotherapy treatment.
"It was very challenging after the treatments to pick up and carry on because nothing is the same after you have cancer," she said, noting she always kept a very positive mindset throughout her illness.
Avery Wheeler, Tia Dayman and Paige Barabash were the Grade 8 students from the school who acted as co-chairs of the mini relay.
The group said it has been a hectic week but in the end, it will be a rewarding one.
"We've been going around to the classrooms giving presentations on different things they can do to make themselves more aware of the dangers. We've been talking about sun safety," said Tia.
The reach of those presentations went beyond risks of cancer and also dealt with physical activity and healthy eating.
Fundraisers at the school included a hat day, principal for a half-day, carnivals and a barbecue.
"We kicked off last week and right after that we got all the teams together - each classroom was its own team - and they got to come up with their own fundraisers," added Tia.
That gave the students an opportunity to get involved in the theme the organizers were trying to stress, which was that even those small in stature or young in age can take control and make a difference.
Patrick Fisher, Estevan's Relay for Life chairperson, also addressed the school.
"We are not here only to recognize those people that we've lost to cancer, but discovering that we are getting close to getting a cure, and we do have the resources available to give help to people with cancer," said Fisher.
Fisher encouraged all of the students to spend some time with the survivors at the relay and learn the stories about how cancer affected their lives.
He invited everybody to come to the Relay for Life on June 8 at the Civic Auditorium.
