East Carolinian

Issue date: 9/23/08 Section: Features

Media Credit: mct

On Oct. 1, ECU will host a Cancer Awareness Fair in the lobby of Bate building. Officially called "Love, Peace, Pirates, Cure," the event is co-sponsored by nine different organizations on-campus, including the Campus Recreation and Wellness Center, Student Health Services, American Cancer Society, Healthy Pirates and ECU Physicians.

"The mission of the Cancer Awareness Fair is to educate and empower students, staff and faculty to take charge of their well-being and learn more about strategies for preventing cancer," said Georgia Childs, recreational services administrator.

From 10 a.m.-3 p.m., the Cancer Awareness Fair will have information tables distributing information about different types of cancer such as colon, breast, testicular, ovarian, oral and lung cancers. Students can also check out tables about nutrition and physical fitness and how they can both be components of cancer prevention.

Pitt County Memorial Hospital will be distributing information as well, along with Locks of Love, an organization that allows women and men to cut and donate at least 10 inches of their hair to cancer patients.

Also included at the fair is the Tree of Hope: a white tree where students can place ribbons in honor of loved ones who have survived or succumbed to various cancers.

Other featured events include an art exhibit, prizes, T-shirts and a novelty food table that allows students to create their own trail mix.

There will also be a free skin cancer screening for students starting at 11 a.m.

Laurel Poe, a junior majoring in Special Education, plans to go to the fair for the information and to honor a family member on the Tree of Hope.

"I think that students sometimes take a na've approach to the subject of cancer, thinking that it's just something that can't happen," said Poe. " They should go and learn about risks and even symptoms because it's real and can happen."

For more information about the Cancer Awareness Fair, contact Georgia Childs at 328-5172 or email her at childsg@ecu.edu.



This writer can be contacted at features@theeastcarolinian.com.

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