Light the Night

Tonight I had the privilege of attending the Light the Night walk in the Woodlands with several friends of mine from work. Light the Night walks are held by the Leukemia and Lymphoma society and are a celebration of light to drive out the darkness of cancer. Since I have been working at Hamilton Middle School the past 6 years, we have had 5 students diagnosed with leukemia and one with lymphoma. Those numbers are strikingly high and luckily they are finally researching our area to figure out why we have such high numbers in a small area. I have mapped out where those kids live in our district and they all live within a 2 mile radius of one another - quiet interesting and scary I must say.

There are three different colored lanterns that you see at Light the Night. They first ask those that are carrying a yellow lantern in remembrance of someone they have lost to leukemia or lymphoma to raise their lantern. They then ask the survivors who are carrying a white torch to raise their lantern, and then those that are there to support family or friends raise their red torch. It really is eye opening to see how many have lost the fight and amazing to see how many have won the fight.

Grace (far right) was one of my students and has been
cancer free for several years.

Trey (one of my current students)
is currently fighting his battle
against Leukemia.

Trey and his mom Jennifer, who is
an awesome advocate for Leukemia.

After they honor the people affected by Leukemia or Lymphoma, you then walk a mile while carrying your lantern. It truly is a beautiful site. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these events, it is really an eye opening and meaningful experience.