Oct. 12, 2001
Evanston, Ill. - When the Northwestern softball players came up with the idea to participate in the second annual Light the Night Walk sponsored by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, they never imagined it would land them on ESPN. But later this season, during an ESPN Regional broadcast of a Northwestern football game, the Wildcat squad and their involvement in the walk will be featured at halftime. The piece was originally scheduled to air this weekend but has been pushed back to a later date yet to be announced.
Wildcat players and coaches raised close to $2,000 in pledges for the walk. The money will go toward finding a cure for leukemia, lymphoma and Hodgkin's disease, and improve the quality of life for cancer patients and their families.
Light the Night was started in Illinois a year ago and is now held in more than a dozen cities throughout the U.S. Participants carry illuminated balloons through the streets-white for cancer survivors, red for participants-bringing awareness of blood related cancers to the community. Although many walks were canceled this year due to the attacks on September 11th, the society still raised more than 10.5 million dollars nationwide.