Community Corner
Teenager Shares Family History of Cancer at Relay for Life
17-year-old Brianna Foley, a Lincoln-Way West senior, addressed a crowd at Relay for Life, sharing the ways that cancer has left an indelible mark on her life.
After the introductions at the kick-off to the 6th Annual New Lenox Relay for Life, an American Cancer Society event to raise funds for research, the ceremony turned solemn. A teenager, 17-year-old Brianna Foley of New Lenox, stepped to the podium. As if speaking before a large crowd and camera-snapping photographers wasn't hard enough, she read a prepared speech about her experience with cancer.
Foley is not and has not physically grappled with the disease, but the impact of cancer and her family's history with it has nevertheless left a scar. Her voice quivered as she talked about the hardship that has been a dominant theme in her life. It started with her grandmother, an aunt and an uncle, two teenage friends and her father. Some conquered the disease and others succumbed.
READ: Relay for Life Stirred Some to Dance Over Their Survival
"Cancer has had such a great impact on me. I see what it does to people I love," said Foley. Then as she turned her focus to those wearing purple T-shirts, the cancer survivors, she couldn't hold back the tears. Her voice cracking, she managed to say, "You guys are amazing people. You fight every day. ...This relay is about all of you—the survivors, the care-givers."
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