Margot California, 15, and Sarah Glatz, 14, are in the ninth grade at North Hills High School in Ross Township, which is located in western Pennsylvania. While they both lived through their mothers’ cancer, they received support from other people whose lives were also affected by the disease.
The girls are now members of the Teen Advisory Committee at Gilda's Club of Western Pennsylvania. Through the organization, the girls introduced cancer awareness and support to their peers. They handed out ribbons and literature about cancer, sold bracelets to raise money for Gilda’s Club, and set up a wall display for teachers and students could post about loved ones who experienced cancer.
"I think it opens their eyes to see how cancer affects people that they know," said Sarah, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor.
"There are a few people in my grade that have parents or grandparents that are very ill from cancer. Hopefully, we are able to show them that they can get support," said Margot, whose mother died from ovarian cancer last year. She said that her mother had wanted her to donate her time to help Gilda’s Club, a national nonprofit organization that was formed in memory of a comedienne who died of ovarian cancer.
The Teen Advisory Committee was started four years ago because teenagers weren't coming to the Gilda Club’s Pittsburgh chapter. The committee has 20 teens, most of whom have encountered cancer. The committee sponsors a battle of the bands, a writing contest, and awareness weeks in schools. The committee isn’t just for ovarian cancer, though. During the North Hills’ awareness week, each day represented a different cancer and students were told to wear a representative cancer color on that day. Cancers included childhood, colon, prostate, breast, and melanoma (skin).
"It went over so well. I was not expecting as much support as we got," Margot said. She said there was a “sea of black" in the school during melanoma awareness day.
Sarah said that the work is worth it if their peers learn "that they are not alone when someone they know is affected by cancer, that everyone shares their stories."
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