During the SL09 playoffs, Pro League admin Adam Pisani took a day off to walk in the Relay for Life, a 12 hour walk and all day event to raise money for cancer research. Adam, as we all have, has been affected by cancer. When he was 8 years old his best friend’s father died of brain cancer, two years ago one of his good friends died of a rare gene-linked cancer, and within the past year and a half no less than 3 of his family members have been diagnosed with cancer.

Adam walked in the Relay with two of those three. His uncle Kelly O’Neill and his daughter Meagan O’Neill were diagnosed with prostate cancer and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma respectively within 6 months of each other. Another of his uncles is currently being treated for an orbital cancer, residing immediately behind his right eye.

Last February Adam shaved his head to match Meagan’s chemo-therapy-induced hairless scalp in another event that raised money for cancer research, but missed the Relay that year. He attempted to make up for it this year by raising several hundred dollars pre-relay, and helping the team’s total (made up of family members) rise to several thousand dollars raised.

The 12 hour walk itself was plenty of fun, as whether or not you’re actually walking is fairly loosely enforced. Each team is meant to have at least one person on the track at all times, but with as many massages, live musical performances, movie screenings, and late lunches planned as there were, there were times that breaks were taken. The breaks, however, turned out to be some of the most inspiring sections of the relay, as it gave the walkers a chance to talk to the hundreds of survivors in attendance, including Meagan’s best “cancer friend,” a girl diagnosed with the same rare form of lymphoma within a week of her own diagnosis, and treated only a few rooms away.

She lost her leg and her hair during her long stay in the hospital, but last year was on the track with one leg, two crutches, and no hair keeping not only her own, but everyone else’s spirits high. She was back again this year, leading the opening ceremonial Survivor’s Lap with her new prosthetic leg and full head of hair.

The run itself lasted from 7 PM to 7 AM, and unsurprisingly Adam was among the few who never slept. Late night Grifball was all the training he needed for this Relay.

The Relay for Life is a continent-wide event, held all over Canada and the United States. Adam strongly encourages you to look into it and aid the effort to properly treat and potentially cure cancer.