It's personal for many: UPG Relay For Life raises $7K in battle against cancer

Dennis Rosatti of Hempfield and his son, Bryan Rosatti of Irwin, share a lot in common, not the least of which is both being cancer survivors.

The elder Rosatti, 66, was diagnosed as a teenager with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma — a cancer that starts in the lymphatic system, which is part of the body’s immune system. Bryan Rosatti, 43, was diagnosed at age 21 with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, a cancer of the white blood cells.

“I’m a 50-year cancer survivor. It’s been a wild ride, but I’m here to talk about it,” said Dennis Rosatti, who was a junior at Greensburg Salem High School when he was diagnosed, decades before current advances in treatment.

The members of the Rosatti family were among around 150 people who joined in the American Cancer Society’s annual Relay for Life fundraiser at the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg on April 5.

Bryan Rosatti was smiling as his mother, Judy, along with family and friends, cut his hair down to the scalp. He planned to donate the locks he had been growing for the past 2½ years to an organization that will make it into a wig for children with cancer.

As part of the Relay for Life, there were people walking on the elevated track about the gym, logging their laps on a large sheet taped to a wall. Others played a form of volleyball, only with plastic pipes above their heads, forming what served as the net. A basket raffle was held to raise money.

The turnout was typical for UPG’s Relay for Life, which for many years was held outside where participants followed a set course. UPG has been participating in the Relay for Life for eight years, said Brian Root, assistant director of housing, who organizes the event.

“We’ve collected almost $40,000 over the past seven years,” Root said.

The goal this year was to raise $5,000.

“They blew that goal out of the water,” said Katie Ronald, senior community development manager for the Relay For Life for the cancer society in Westmoreland County.

The UPG Relay for Life raised about $7,000 and other fundraising events associated with it in the county boosted the total to $26,000, Ronald said. The cancer society in has raised about $81,000 this year in the county and hopes to reach $150,000. Another fundraiser is planned for the Bella Terra Winery in Hunker on July 13, which will feature a 5K race.

The money will go for patient support programs and advocacy, as well as research, Ronald said.

Students really get behind the event, Root said.

Among the students at the event were Lindsey Lauffer, senior from Greensburg, who said she wanted to be part of the Relay for Life committee because both her mother and father are cancer survivors and some of her relatives lost their life to cancer.

“It’s easy to have the Relay for Life be personal for people” because many have a family member who has suffered from cancer, Root said. “That’s why it gets support.”