WSPA
By Diane Lee,
http://wspa.com/2017/09/29/spartanburg-school-district-goes-gold-to-raise-awareness-about-childhood-cancer/
SPARTANBURG CO., S.C. (WSPA) – This year alone, 10,000 children under 15-years-old will be diagnosed with cancer in the US.
To raise awareness, every school in Spartanburg School District 1 participated in a day of “going gold.”
The hallways and classrooms had a little extra sparkle, Friday, as people wore shirts, hats, even gloves that were gold.
But what really captured the spirit of the day, was the gold cape worn by Campobello Gramling 2nd grader, Seven Bullard.
“The nurse made it and she put an M on the back for Markus,” said Bullard.
Markus Morris was her brother. He died of Leukemia in 2014.
“They made this, because they wanted him to fight, they wanted him to be a hero.”
Today, it’s students like Bullard that are heros, as well as 5th grader Paige Melick, who went to the Principal’s office last week with an idea on how to make “going gold” even more brilliant.
“At first I was scared to go in there cause I didn’t know what was going to happen,” said Melick.
“Her big idea was, lets do more than just wear gold. Can we have a service project that goes along with this campaign. How do you say no to that, I mean it came from a kid,”said Campobello Gramling School Principal Jeremy Darby.
Melick helped Campobello staff and parents raise a thousand dollars today for a non-profit that helps kids with cancer called Children’s Security Blanket.
“When the community heard about the fundraising cause, an anonymous donor even offered to match everything the staff has raised.
Bullard had the courage to talk about her brother’s passing.
“He died at his make a wish trip, in the hotel,” she said.
Sometimes it takes a child or two, to remind you, that even though tragedy is part of life, it’s the hearts of gold that keep memories alive, and inspire us all to make the world a little brighter.
“It doesn’t matter how old you are or how tall you are or what grade you are in, you just have to believe in yourself and encourage yourself and it will happen,” said 10-year-old Melick.