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Making a Difference Posing for a picture in front of the Wesleyan camp are, from left, Becky swanson, student, Marlene Warnke, administrative assistant for campus life, rochelle Reider, nursing instructor, Judy Rowley, faculty/nursing secretary, Julie Peak, registrar, Austin Brower and his mom, Jody Brower, leads secretary for enrollment services.

Gloria Hanson
University Relations

Twenty-two members of the "Wesleyan family" took to the pavement recently in an effort to lighten the financial burden cancer causes families when a loved one is afflicted with the disease.

"The knowledge that you are doing something good for an organization, and that the money raised stays in the community is all the satisfaction I need," said Marlene Warnke, administrative assistant for campus life and an 11-year employee of DWU.

Warnke is among the faculty, staff, students and some of their families who made up Wesleyan's team in the annual Heart and Sole Cancer Walk. The DWU team raised $355 through donations and the sale of luminaries for the Mitchell Area Cancer Assistance Board. The annual walk was held at the Mitchell Middle School on July 27.

All of the proceeds from the event, which drew about 1,250 walkers from 102 teams, stay in the community and are used to help families with a loved one with cancer. About $4,500 was raised.

"Sometimes insurance doesn't cover everything and there can be very expensive medical appointments, travel expenses, medical equipment or prescription costs that families can't afford," said Janette Tyrrell, a student who has organized the Wesleyan team for the past three years.

To participate in the walk, teams must consist of at least 10 people. Someone can sponsor the team for $125 or the team can earn the money from the sale of luminaries, which are purchased in memory or honor of someone who has died from or survived cancer. The walk began at 6 p.m. and concluded four hours later with a memorial service where the names on the luminaries were read in a solemn ceremony.

Tyrrell knows all too well the toll cancer can take on a family. She's had a grandmother and uncle die from the disease, an aunt and great aunt who survived breast cancer, and a nephew who was born with cancer and is now an 11-year survivor.

"I hate it. I hate what it does to people. I hate how random it is. I hate how it can be silent and then strike. I hate it," Tyrrell said, adding that the disease has weaved its way through her life. Tyrrell said she also has friends who have spent a good portion of the past year at the Mayo Clinic with their 4-year-old daughter who has leukemia.

Jody Brower is another DWU employee who has lost a family member to cancer. Her grandmother suffered with many forms of the disease before losing her fight to bone cancer, and her mother has also suffered.

"I got started the year my mom found out she had breast cancer," said Brower, leads secretary for enrollment services who has participated in the cancer walk for the past three years.

"Having the reality of cancer hit this close to home and watching my mom go through what she did, I feel this is my way of supporting her and others in life who have had to battle cancer."

Brower said watching the walkers come together for the purpose of helping others is an overwhelming feeling. She plans to participate again next year and will share the duties of organizing the event with Warnke.