The University of Nebraska Medical Center Eppley Cancer Center will
serve as host to its first citywide Candlelight Vigil of Hope and Remembrance
on Friday, Oct. 6, beginning at 7 p.m., at 42nd and Dewey Avenue Circle.
The one-hour vigil by candlelight is being held to remember the loved
ones Nebraskans have lost to cancer and to salute cancer survivors. It
is being held in conjunction with a national vigil in Washington, D.C.
Other vigils will take place in Washington, Pennsylvania and Minnesota.
Bob Bell, president of the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce, is the honorary
spokesperson for the vigil.
The program will include inspirational music, accounts from cancer survivors
on their personal experiences with cancer, and a brief talk about the progress
in the fight against cancer by the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center director,
Kenneth Cowan, M.D., Ph.D. Refreshments will be served following the program
and pen lights will be provided for lighting.
We see this citywide vigil as a forum for hope in the battle against
cancer and a remembrance for those who have been lost to these diseases,
said Dr. Cowan. Together, as a community, we should celebrate and remember
these looses because together we can make strides against these deadly
diseases. We hope to make the vigil an annual event of solidarity
against the common enemy — cancer.
The national Candlelight Vigil is hosted by the National Coalition for
Cancer Survivorship (NCCS). The national vigil will be celebrated Oct.
at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The NCCS has vowed to unite thousands of people each year across the
country to remember those lost to cancer and to celebrate survivorship.
The UNMC Eppley Cancer Center recently earned the clinical cancer center
designation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI). This
designation recognizes that the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center has strong cancer
research programs in both basic sciences as well as clinical research on
cancer patients.