Hundreds of red, white and gold balloons illuminated the UF's campus Thursday night.
Participants supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's annual Light the Night Walk showed up at the North Lawn of Ben Hill Griffin Stadium around 6 p.m.
This year, more than 700 people, which was a record number, came out to raise money and awareness for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma.
Red balloons were given to fundraisers, white balloons to cancer survivors and patients and gold balloons to people who had lost someone to one of these blood diseases.
The race, which started around 7:15 p.m., was a two-mile route through UF's campus while participants carried their electrically lit balloons with them.
Julie Shaffer, an international public affairs major and one of the event organizers, said it had been in the works since the beginning of summer. She got involved after her uncle passed away from non-Hodgkin's lymphoma a few years ago.
"When you have a personal tie to someone who has passed away from one of these diseases, you want to do something to remember them by," she said. "It's always hard, but the reason we are doing this is to raise money and awareness about leukemia and lymphoma."
They quickly changed the fundraising goal from $1,000 to $5,000, Shaffer said.
The money raised this year has surpassed expectations and is higher than any other year, she said.
Every year in the United States, an estimated 894,000 people are affected by leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, Ashley Mattson, campaign manager for the North Florida Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, said.
These diseases are all blood cancers, and there is no cure for them. Leukemia is a cancer of the white blood cells and causes the most cancer deaths for people under the age of 20. Lymphoma is cancer of the lymph nodes, organs that consist of many types of cells, Mattson said.
Every four minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer, and every 10 minutes someone dies from one of these cancers, she added.
"Our goal is to provide hope for people battling blood cancers, improve the quality of life for these patients and their families, gain awareness and raise money. Without money, we can't fund research. Every penny raised is a help," she said.
This has been a nationwide event for the past 11 years, and Gainesville has been a part of it since the beginning because of the large group of students at UF, Shaffer said. The Gator Nation is active in giving back, and coming here would prove why being a Gator is so great.
Jeanette Whaley, a health science major, has been a volunteer at Light the Night Walk for two years. She decided to get involved in this event because friends of hers have been diagnosed with leukemia.
Whaley was drawn to the cause because she thought it was a good way to bring awareness to Gainesville. She said it was a way to learn more about the diseases. This year, there were more organizations involved this year than previous years, like Radio Disney and McDonald's, and the walk was definitely a success, she said.
For more information on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit the Web site at http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org/all_chap.
