A Celebration of Survivors

Stella Polit and her colleagues raise more than $18,000 to support cancer survivors

Beating the odds

(L-R) Emily Mari, R.N., and cancer survivors Stella Polit, R.N., and Julia Westfall, R.N., joined with nearly 40 other colleagues and raised more money for Relay for Life than any other team.

As people file into the Fearless Fire Co. for a basket bingo fund-raiser, Stella Polit, R.N., pauses. She excuses herself from a conversation with friends and, with arms wide open, approaches a woman she hasn’t seen in a long time. The woman, whose husband died a year earlier from cancer, hugs Polit as tears run down her face. “Thank you so much,” the woman says.

Moments like this inspire Polit, a nurse on 7C at LVH–Cedar Crest, and 40 of her colleagues to raise money for Relay for Life, an overnight walkathon that celebrates cancer survivorship. Many colleagues raise money, but nurses, technical partners, support partners and administrative partners on 7C do it in a big way—they spent an entire year raising $18,000 for the walk, held in June at Saucon Valley High School. Their efforts earned them the walking sneaker award, which goes to the top fund-raising team.

"We spend most of our free time planning events or hosting them,” says Polit, who co-captains Relay for Life with colleagues Emily Mari and Julia Westfall, R.N. Shortly after the annual relay ends, Polit, Mari and Westfall get together and begin planning fund-raisers for the following year.

“We’ve been supporting Relay for Life for 20 years, and we plan about two fund-raising events each month to prepare,” says Mari, an administrative partner. “We host everything from bake sales and raffles to our biggest fund-raiser, basket bingo.”

The team also hosts hot-food nights. Because the LVH–Cedar Crest cafeteria is closed on weekend nights, the team serves hot food and baked goods from 10 pm-3 am on select weekends for colleagues who work third shift. “We usually raise $400-500 each time,” Polit says.

All these events—and a $1,000 donation from a local bottled water company that came courtesy of a patient—allowed the team to top the $18,000 mark this year. They’re not stopping there. “We’re always looking to set a new fund-raising goal,” Polit says. This year the team will set up a booth at the Allentown Fair to help raise cancer awareness and answer questions about the disease. They will also host a prize raffle at the Fair.

“We see cancer every day at the hospital,” Mari says. “Even though it hasn’t touched my life directly, it touches my friends’, colleagues’ and patients’ lives, which in turn touches me.”

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