Cancer Fighters 'Pause and Reflect' at HCC Relay For Life Booth

With a nod to SpongeBob SquarePants, students, teachers and staff from the Brandon campus of Hillsborough Community College showed up in force with messages of prevention and pleas for support in the fight against cancer at the 2013 Brandon Relay for Life at Brandon High School.

It's an annual event for the Relay participants from HCC, representing the Health Pre-Professional Organization (HPPO), Brandon Campus Advisory Council, Student Government Association ant Global Medical Brigade.

Professor Michael Odu was there as well, as advisor of Phi Theta Kappa, whose members also were in attendance.

"It's important for the people who are recently diagnosed, that they can realize there is a support system not only with the American Cancer Society but with the community as well," Odu said.

A constant each year for the HCC booth is a display of inspirational sayings that bring greater meaning to cancer fighters. This year was no different, with sayings written on creatures from the sea, including:

• Women Over 50 Should Get a Mammogram Every Year.
• Cancer Does Not Define Me.
• Once You Choose Hope, Anything Is Possible.

Such a display causes Relay attendees to "pause and reflect," Odu said. "We used the lighter side of SpongeBob, but at the same time [the message] is something serious."

The aim, as always, is to join in the fight against cancer.

"It allows us to raise awareness because cancer is everywhere," Odu said. Everywhere you look, he added, "you can find someone's whose life is directly or indirectly touched by cancer."