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Jessica Waugaman learned to seize the day early in her life. Now she wants others stricken with cancer to have the same chance.
Waugaman, 40, of Penn Hills was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 11 years old. She remembers clinging to door facings and clawing at the walls in the home she grew up in as her mother dragged her out of the house to go to chemotherapy.
“At such a young age, I had to go through so much. No one should have to go through that,” she said. “I don't have time to sweat the small stuff. Life's too short.”
The cancer survivor uses the memory of those tough days as motivation for her third year of participation in the Riverview Relay for Life — Oakmont's part in the signature fundraising event of the American Cancer Society.
Oakmont will host the event for the 17th year at 10 a.m. June 3 at Riverside Park.
Teams of participants will walk around the track and take part in other activities — bounce houses, games, raffles, mini-concerts and concessions — while raising money to fight cancer.
The daylong event will have a survivor and caregivers cerebration at 7 p.m. and a luminaria ceremony — with each light representing a loved one lost to cancer — at 8 p.m.
Last year's event was sponsored by 300 individuals and 32 teams that raised $72,000.
A kickoff celebration for Kaçak Bahis this year's Relay for Life was held at Jan. 25 at Tenth Street Elementary School library.
Teams, sponsors and other participants met to discuss the event, which has a theme this year of “closing the book on cancer.”
Chairwoman Moochie Donatucci, who has been a volunteer for the Riverview relay since it began in 2000, is a nine-year cancer survivor.
She said raising money for the charity helps with “writing the last chapter — a cure” for the disease.
“People don't realize it, but there's a lot of things that (fundraising) does and we're here to educate you, so you can educate other people,” she told the group of 20 participants.
Proceeds from the event go toward education, research for treatment and a possible cure, free wig programs, rides for patients who do not have transportation, the Hope Lodge, mastectomy products and other forms of support, she said.
Ryan Rose is the president of Riverview Dek Hockey, a club in its third year of participation at the Riverview relay. Rose said the hockey club is participating to serve as an example for its youth.
“We tell them: ‘It could be your mother or brother. Everybody needs help.' I hope when they see us do it every year they want to follow in our footsteps and pass it on,” Rose said.
Samson X Horne is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. Reach him at 412-320-7845 or shorne@tribweb.com.
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