Caleigh, a Girl Scout in East Rockaway Long Island, has been spreading awareness on behalf of T.E.A.L. ® throughout her school. She describes the initiatives in her own words below:
“For my Girl Scout Gold Award I wanted to keep educating people. A topic that many need clarification on is the topic of cancer and how to prevent it and get help. Since I had at least 6 people close to me who died of cancer since 2009, this was a topic that was important and sensitive to me. Of those included were my father who passed away of colon cancer in 2016 and my girl scout leader who passed of ovarian cancer last year. This project is dedicated to them. So what better way than to educate the youth? I came up with the idea of presenting slideshows to different grades in my high school.
I attend East Rockaway Jr./Sr/ high school which holds grades 7-12 because of how small our town is. So far I’ve presented to four classes full of 9th, 10th and 12th graders. I intend on presenting a lot more. I contacted T.E.A.L. ® for donations because I knew how dedicated they were. I attended their walk this past September in Brooklyn and loved it. I attended in honor of my girl scout leader Toni Wilson who died recently of Ovarian cancer. We walked on a team named ‘Toni’s Angels.’
As another way to spread information about the importance of cancer screening I made pamphlets. I’m going to leave some at my local library and some at primary care doctors offices. The pamphlets explain why you should get screened for cancer, and what cancers offer early screening such as mammograms, blood tests and colonoscopies. For even more information I will be creating an instagram and blog possibly on tumblr. The instagram page will include reminders on health related issues and cancer fighting foods. My blog will be a safe haven for kids who deal with cancer in their family. I know when my father was ill with stage 4 colon cancer, I had no one who understood or really related to my situation besides my family. I want others to know that they are not alone and always have an ear to listen. This blog can also be an outlet for people suffering through chemotherapy.
I hope this project helps younger generations take charge of their health and listen to the success stories out there.”
Thank you Caleigh for being such an amazing advocate for ovarian cancer in your community and among your peers. Looking to get involved with T.E.A.L. ® but not sure where to start? Contact us at info@tealwalk.org!
