Swab a Cheek, Save a Life at Rider University's Relay for Life

Rider Staff Member Richard Kopp joins the registry

Dr. Bryan Spiegelberg (a stem cell donor and Rider faculty member) put me in touch with the Pre-med Club and some very capable volunteers for our Gift of Life swab station at Rider University’s Relay for Life.  Olivia and Devon took the online training that Gift of Life provides and, together with Rushit, the students added 63 potential donors to the bone marrow registry.  Now we pray that one – or more – of them is a match for a cancer patient somewhere, sometime!

Jeff and I were invited to the Survivor/Caregiver dinner prior to the start of the Relay.  We walked into the meeting room which had been decorated for a Dr. Seuss-themed birthday party.  Jeff turned to me and said, “This isn’t the right room.  This is for kids.”

I reminded him that the American Cancer Society is “the official sponsor of birthdays” and that his 4^th birthday (post-transplant) is only a few weeks away.  “Yes, this IS for you,” I assured him.  We sat down to play Name-that-Dr. Seuss-Book while we waited for the festivities to begin.  Jeff is fond of quoting Dr. Seuss and so together we did a good job of deciphering the clues.

Mike and Jeff discussed cancer - and the old neighborhood

Love those shirts!

We shared the meal (delicious!) with other Rider staff members who were either survivors or caregivers including Vickie whose husband grew up in the same neighborhood as Jeff.  Mike and Jeff had a lot to talk about – not just their cancer journeys.  We also met survivors and caregivers who were relatives of Rider students.  One family's team shirts featured a wooden spoon with the message, “Beat Cancer.”  We had to learn the significance of the spoon!  Their team’s honoree was their Italian mama, a petite pretty woman, who doubtless stirs both meals and hearts.  It would have been great to have one of Jeff’s hand-turned spoons available to give her.  Maybe next year.

Survivors are invited to lead the relay and somehow Jeff ended up carrying the banner right up front.  He took his role as a member of the banner-carrier team very seriously.  I think he was tempted to do his defiant fast-walk to show just how well he is doing but he looked back to gauge how the other survivors were doing.   Some are currently in treatment and not fit for a fast pace.  While the Survivors took their lap around the indoor track, about 800 people on the gym floor below cheered and cheered – through the entire lap! 

Vickie, who’d attended this event before, stood beside me and said, “Didn’t I tell you?” 

She’d described the Survivor’s Lap as pretty emotional and, in fact, we both had wet eyes.  We stood shoulder-to-shoulder and marveled at the endurance of our men and the road we’d taken (are taking) with them.  The second lap included Caregivers and so Vickie and I joined our guys and the other members of the Cancer Coterie (the club you never wanted to join but through which you meet some really nice folks).

Olivia and her Dance Team friends - Swabbers among them!

We are grateful for the students and staff who organized Rider’s Relay for Life, the students who stepped up to run the Gift of Life Swab Station, those who swabbed to join the bone marrow registry, and the teams who raised money so that the American Cancer Society can continue to do their work on behalf of patients and families.  Well done, all!