Shannon Marsh

I have been participating in Light The Night for three years. Three years ago my daughter Paige was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Through her two and a half years of treatment our life was a roller coaster. Paige was a fighter and is now finished treatment and cancer free. There are so many things that change when this comes into your life but with so many friends, family and community support it really made things easier. Paige still has follow up appointments each month and as the years go on they will start to be less and less. 

Paige was diagnosed one week before the Light the Night walk in 2017. We heard about it while she was admitted to the hospital. We decided as a family that we would participate in the next walk when Paige could attend. We were so taken back our first time. It is such a beautiful sight to see everyone walking with the lanterns shining through the streets of London. Paige has inspired so many people with her courage and fight!! She is the reason we walk and we want to help other families that have to endure this difficult journey.

We participate in the Bottle Drive in May every year. With the pandemic this year we were not able to have it so we decided to still collect empties and return them ourselves and start collecting the money. In May Paige donated $2500 to the Bottle Drive and we were so excited with the turn out from everyone. At that time we decided to keep collecting empties and donate the money to team Paige for the Light the Night walk. We had an overwhelming response and could not be happier with everyone's generosity. We are so lucky to have so many friends and family that have donated money or empties to team Paige and now we have collected over $5000.

Light the Night is something that is important to our family and it is a time to celebrate Paige and all that she has over come. It also means so much to be apart of a community that is doing great things for so many people fighting this tough fight! I think everyone that can support a cause that is dear to them helps to feel like you are making a difference in somebody's life