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Dayton 'Light
the Night' Walk for cancer awareness
DAYTON, Ohio - We’re nearing the end of September National Childhood
Cancer Awareness and Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness Month and
preparing for the Thursday, Oct. 1 Dayton “Light The Night” walk for
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society at Kettering’s Fraze
Pavilion. It’s a perfect time to celebrate all patients and
families fighting blood cancer, especially LLS “Honored Hero” Zach
Meredith, an 11-year-old leukemia survivor from Springboro.
Diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia in 2011, Zach is in
remission and could be declared cancer free by the time he and his team
take part in Thursday’s Light The Night Walk. He said he reminded
himself to “keep fighting and be strong” as he endured chemotherapy
treatments, painful tumors and the shots his parents had to give him
twice a day.
“He as a normal kid, playing baseball, when they found a mass in his
chest,” said Zach’s dad Bill Meredith. “That began his journey.”
He praised the support from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society as Zach
battled back, and thanked Light The Night teams for their fundraising
work.
Zach is now a sixth-grader at Springboro Intermediate School.
He’s not playing baseball again just yet, but his dad said his
interests have changed. “He wants to be a nurse someday and help kids
who have leukemia.”
Helping others, fighting cancer, and winning the fight are all part of
Light The Night. “Someday is today,” said lymphoma patient and 2015 LTN
Walk Chairman Donnie Hill. “We’re going to turn the lights off in our
organization. We’re going to cure cancer and we can do it with your
help.”
LLS Dayton Campaign Manager Karen Carter said the 2015 fundraising goal
is $283,000. “Dayton raised a million dollars last year for Light
The Night and the Man and Woman of the Year campaign,” Karen
said. “Dayton has heart.”
The 2014 Dayton Light The Night raised $258,809, including the
contribution of $76,372 by the Community Blood Center/Community Tissue
Services team, a record for the Tri-State Southern Ohio LLS chapter.
Changes for the 2015 LTN walk include a Survivor’s Parade on-stage at
the start of the event. “We’ve also changed the walk route,”
Karen said. “We’ll no longer be walking through the ‘wilds of the
woods’ with only lantern light!”
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