MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Aaliyah Jordan and Kate Elam had something in common while attending the annual Middle Tennessee State University Relay for Life in the Campus Recreation Center gym.
Their mothers are cancer survivors.
More than 150 people attended the four-hour event Friday, March 28, wrapping up months of planning and numerous fundraising efforts led by the student organizing committee. By night’s end, $12,000 was raised in the American Cancer Society fight against cancer.
Participants were involved in many planned activities — games like tug of war, a dance off and pickleball, nearly three hours of fundraising walks, luminaria, food and drink and more — throughout the evening.
The MTSU Student Nurses Association, sororities, Service Learners and Murfreesboro community (Siegel Middle School and High School HOSA/Future Health Professionals and Antioch Primitive Baptist Church choir) provided support.
“I’m excited to see it come together. We’ve been planning this for months,” said Laney Denton, 21, of Murfreesboro, the MTSU Relay for Life student chapter president who is a double major in international relations and Spanish and scheduled to graduate in August. “My grandmother (Vicky Lichtenberg) had colon cancer. Everyone has a personal connection (with cancer).”
It marked Denton’s fifth year to participate, with the first as a Central Magnet School senior. She said there were moments of silence at the beginning and end for those who have fought cancer.
Event director Dianna Rust, who is a University Studies professor and Integrated Studies and Professional Studiesprogram coordinator, said “as a faculty (member), it’s wonderful to see the students do it from start to finish and be so engaged in a great cause.”
Sponsors this year included EXL (Experiential Learning), MT Engage, Phillips Bookstore, the College of Liberal Artsand University College. Twenty-four teams participated.
Surviving cancer
Angela Elam, 58, of Franklin, shared her story of twice surviving breast cancer, once in 2013 and again in 2024. After briefly speaking to the audience, she said, “It’s Jesus. That’s what’s gotten me through. I lost both breasts. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to go through.”
She credits daughter Kate, 23, a nutrition and dietetics major “for making a big impact regarding food and what I eat — foods that are cancer-fighting (leafy greens, nothing ultra-processed and little or no alcohol).
Jordan’s mother, Kimberly Jordan, has been cancer free for almost 10 years.
“I participated last year. It was really fun, so I wanted to do it again this year,” nursing major Aaliyah Jordan said. “I remember the speaker last year (cancer survivor Taylor Blanton of Woodbury). My church had actually been praying for him, so it’s a small world.”
To learn more, visit www.relayforlife.org/mtsu.
— Randy Weiler (Randy.Weiler@mtsu.edu)
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