BY BRUCE CHESSELL
Conestoga students got a chance to spin the “Wheel of Terror” in the Sanctuary at Conestoga’s Doon campus on Oct. 29, just a few days before Halloween.
Proceeds went to cancer research and Light The Night, an organization that sets up a walk every year in major cities to raise funds for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada.
Second-year business marketing student Jeanette Shepherd and her classmates and partners in the event, Teri Lyn Smith, Marcy Galindo, Dolly Nguyen and Lauren Graham, set up the wheel on the stage of the Sanctuary.
Students came up and paid $2 to spin it in order to win gift cards and other prizes from sponsors such as Zehrs, The Beer Store, The Kitchener Rangers and Conestoga Students Inc.
“The reason we are holding the event is that my niece Alisa is a six-year-old cancer survivor,” said Shepherd, who went on to explain her niece’s story.
“My niece Alisa Gammy was diagnosed at four years old with acute leukemia, which is a cancer of the white blood cells.
“So she is not really able to fight off the simplest of colds, meaning she was hospitalized, unable to attend things kids would normally attend such as kindergarten.”
Alisa went through two years of radiotherapy, an assortment of drugs and hospital visits before she regained her health. “She has finally turned full circle and has become a healthy radiant child,” Shepherd said. “And in her honour as a cancer survivor we are holding an event like this to help other families gain knowledge and support.”
First-year recreation and leisure services student Krista Dwyer was one of the students to go up and spin the “Wheel of Terror.”
“It is terror because you get so close to winning the big prize and it’s kind of scary with the anticipation,” she said with a laugh.
She went on to say that she believed in the cause they were supporting.
“After (Shepherd) told us the story about her niece it was really touching because I have a child myself so for someone to have cancer that young and have a two-year battle with it is tough. So it’s really a great cause to support.”
You can donate to Light The Night at www.lightthenight.ca/donate, and find out more about how you can help at The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s website, www.llscanada.org.
What is Journalism?