Talawanda Volleyballs Fight for the Cure

Hello to all reading this and to whom it may concern,

My name is Zoe Smith and I am an incoming senior at Talawanda High School. I will be apart of the Varsity volleyball team for the 23’ season. Myself and two other students/ teammates came up with an idea to not only represent cancer but also fundraise for it. We all have loved ones in our lives that have been affected by cancer, including us, and we want to do something to show those loved ones that us three and the rest of the Talawanda Volleyball program care. Here’s our stories:

My name is Myah Keene, and as stated before, I am a rising senior on the Talawanda Varsity volleyball team. I am the youngest of four siblings with a family oriented background. I along with many of my teammates have been affected by cancer because my cousin, whom is very close in age with me had Hodgkins Lymphoma two years ago. It was extremely hard to see my best friend, and cousin, not know whether he would make it or not at one point. I was able to see all that it took to fight the battle of cancer, and everything that goes into it. I can happily say that he won the battle, and this is why I am fundraising towards the cause. I would love for more and more people every day, to win the battle. It takes much more than one person, or one doctor, it takes everyone around you and a team full of the best.

My name is Leah Noga, I am going to be a senior on Talawanda’s Varsity Volleyball team. I am the oldest of two siblings. I along with my teammates have been affected by a family member with cancer diagnosis. I first got exposed to a cancer diagnosis when I was young my grandma had been diagnosed with colon cancer. At the time I didn’t really know what it meant. But at the time all my family told me was “she didn’t have to much longer.” It was hard to see my dad go through losing his mom when he was just starting his life. And as I grew up I was always told I resembled a lot of her. This is why I am fundraising towards the cause. So others can win there battle against cancer.

I am Zoe Smith, Myah and Leah have been some of my closet friends and we have grown playing volleyball together since seventh grade. We’ve all seen each other go through tough times as the stories mentioned above, which is why we want to help. When I was 13, the year 2018 my mom was diagnosed with stage 2 breast cancer. My sister and I were shattered and didn’t know how to cope or deal, let alone how my mom felt. our family struggled with our emotions and it took a while to process and realize what the word “cancer” actually meant. My mom, Shauna, underwent radiation and multiple surgery’s before she defeated cancer for the first time. Yes, it came back. In 2021 mom went back to the doctor because something was off, a few weeks later she got results from multiple tests and the figured out she had stage 4 Metastatic Breast Cancer in all of her bones besides her arms and her legs. Unfortunately they cannot cure or get rid of this type of cancer leaving my mom to deal with this for the rest of her life. Although it cannot be cured, I want to advocate for everyone who is affected. The one thing I’ve learned is that this situation takes a community to stand behind you, and that’s what we want to provide.

How we want to help:

As we want to REPRESENT, we will be doing that by using partial of all donations to go towards pink and purple Talawanda Volleyball

jerseys to wear for the whole month of October, instead of just having one designated game to Volley for he Cure. How we want to HELP, any donation money left over after the costs of our jerseys would be donated back to Luna Cares Fund to help those in need.