Relay for Life brings together people who have been touched by cancer. Some relay in honor or memory of someone they knew. But for some, cancer is a more personal enemy.
Holly Collier, junior in electrical engineering, participates in Relay for Life because of her own battle with Hodgkin's lymphoma.
After catching a cold from her sister during her junior year of high school, Collier said she woke up the next morning with a bump on her neck, which she told her mom about.
"(We) went to the doctor's office, spent the entire day going through tests and playing the waiting game," Collier said. "Finally my doctor came in and said, 'Well, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news is, you have cancer. The good news is, it's Hodgkin's lymphoma, and that's the best type you can get.'"
According to the Mayo Clinic's website, Hodgkin's lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system that causes cells to grow abnormally large and travel beyond the lymphatic system. Eventually this weakens the immune system.
Collier had a biopsy at Nemours Children's Clinic in Pensacola the next day, confirming the original diagnosis.
"When we came home and we told my dad, that was the first time I'd ever seen him cry," Collier said.
Collier said it was hard to share the news with her friends, and she didn't tell any of them for several days. But once word got out, Collier said they were supportive.
"They did all these posters and brought all these things to me," Collier said.
Her schoolmates showed support as well.
"For a while, I rode around--with lots of field trips--I was riding in a wheelchair, and so they all took turns pushing me to the point of one point where they almost literally caused me to crash," Collier said.
After her diagnosis, Collier began chemotherapy.
"My treatment was a little bit special because I managed to be that problem person," Collier said.
Collier said she had multiple problems with her port. A port, according to the American Cancer Society's website, is a long-term, drum-shaped device used for injections.
It is surgically placed under the skin, runs into a large or central vein and is accessed with a "non-coring" needle.
"My surgeon, because I was in high school and because I was female, was like, 'I'm going to put your port down on the side of your torso, so that you don't have a scar when you go to prom and wear a dress,'" Collier said.
But after the line fell out twice, the surgeon had to move the port to her chest.
Additional complications led to several more surgeries that should have been unnecessary.
"I had a total of six surgeries for a total of six rounds of chemo," Collier said. "By the time I came to that last surgery, my surgeon said, 'I never want to see you again,' and I said, 'The feeling is mutual.'"
Collier said she didn't have much of a negative reaction to the chemotherapy, which surprised her doctors and nurses.
"The only time I ended up getting sick was the last round of treatment right before Christmas, and my white blood cell count was down so low that I got sick, and I was stuck in the hospital up until two days before Christmas," Collier said.
She was able to go home for the holidays, but the reprieve was short-lived.
"My doctor called on Christmas and said, 'I'm not going to make you come in today, but you have to come in tomorrow,'" Collier said.
Collier was in and out of the hospital for treatment for about four months, but said she was able to keep up with school during that time.
"I've always been involved in school, and it's always been what's kept me going," Collier said. "Even though I hated doing homework, and I hated being stuck in bed all the time, school was where I felt normal. Even though I had a cap on or a scarf on, it never really felt strange to me. It was always comfortable being at school."
Collier said when she first found out she had Hodgkin's lymphoma, she wanted to drop her International Baccalaureate classes, but her teachers wouldn't let her.
Instead, they were helpful about making arrangements for her when necessary.
"Instead of having to take notes, my history teacher allowed me to buy my own paperback version of the book and just highlight it and show it to him," Collier said. "I actually ended up getting better grades than most of the people who were in class all the time."
One positive experience Collier had was with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes for children with life-threatening medical conditions. Through Make-A-Wish, Collier's dream of working for Disney was brought to life.
"They worked it out for me to go meet an Imagineer, who are the people who design the parks, the hotels (and) the rides for Disney," Collier said.
Collier spent the day behind-the-scenes at Animal Kingdom and said the experience increased her desire to work at Disney.
"That kind of helped me decide to become an engineering major," Collier said.
Though Collier had a hard time sharing the news when she was first diagnosed, she is open to telling her story now via Relay for Life.
"It was really nice to have somebody on the committee who was actually a survivor," said Luis Rodriguez, sophomore in premedicine and Survivorship chair. "Most of us aren't survivors, we've just had somebody in our family, so we don't have that completely personal experience of having to go through that."
Collier said although Relay is something that she was involved in long before she had cancer, it means even more to her now, and she always encourages people to get involved.
"Relay isn't just about cancer research," Collier said. "It's about providing money for women to come in and learn how to take care of wigs or to look at themselves beautifully when they're going through cancer treatment."
Collier said her favorite part of Relay for Life is the Luminaria ceremony.
"You get a chance to sit back and really think about what's going on," Collier said. "It kind of gives you that chance to cry and not feel awkward about it--just to know that it's not a big deal. It's OK."
Catherine Bonner, sophomore in elementary education and co-chair of Auburn University's Relay for Life, said Collier's enthusiasm was an asset to the committee.
"She was one of the first people to jump on any responsibility," Bonner said. "Tasks come up that no one's assigned to, so it's been nice to have her and her willingness to help with all those things.
"You can really tell the passion that she puts behind what we're doing because how important it is to her."
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