LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. – KATELYN LAZAREK OF UNIVERSITY OF DALLAS, a junior catcher on the Crusaders softball team from Seattle, Wash., has been selected as the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Character and Community Female Student-Athlete of the Week for the week beginning March 4.
Cycle for Survival is an annual event that started back in 2007 and was founded to help raise money for rare cancer research. The event is sponsored and ran by both Memorial Sloan Kettering and Equinox and puts on events across the country to help fund pioneering research and clinical trials. 100% of the proceeds raised by Cycle for Survival is directly allocated to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center within 6 months of the events. Cycle for Survival has directly contributed to 100+ clinical trials and research studies. About 50% of people are diagnosed with rare cancer, approximately 850,000 people in 2018 alone. This event gives humanity a way to fight back against rare cancer.
Leading up to each event, team members are raising money through donations and the event itself is a celebration of how far we have come. Participants are able to hear testimonies of those who have been helped by Cycle for Survival and Memorial Sloan Kettering and see that every dollar, every team, every participant, is making an impact and together bringing an end to rare cancer.
Lazarek spent the fall semester helping raise money and gather a team – her softball teammates – for Cycle for Survival. Lazarek was able to get involved through her work, Equinox Fitness, in which Equinox and Memorial Sloan Kettering teamed up to put on the event. Lazarek holds a passion for spin, so that alone had her excited to sign up and once she discovered the cause; it was a something she knew she had to do.
Her father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2017.
“The news was absolutely devastating to me, because anyone that knows me knows that he is my hero.”
Thankfully, after tests and surgery, in January 2018 he was officially cancer free.
“He would not be with me today had it not been for extensive research and many advancements made to modern medicine,” Lazarek explained. “Events like Cycle for Survival create opportunities for research and advancements in medicine, advancements that save lives, like my father’s.
“Hearing stories of how the work done by Memorial Sloan-Kettering has given people a second chance at life was truly eye-opening and inspiring. Their stories demonstrated to me how every dollar donated matters, and what we are doing, matters,” Lazarek continued. “This cause is so near and dear to my heart that I cannot wait to get more involved next year and grow our team and our donations and make an even bigger impact. Cycle for Survival will hopefully become an event not to raise money for rare cancer research, but to celebrate that we beat rare cancer, and I cannot wait to be part of it.”
Lazarek has been part of the Dallas softball program for three seasons. Head Coach Caitlynn Dykes and the team have been supportive of the Cycle for Survivor cause that Lazarek headed. Several of her teammates rode with Lazarek in late January the first week after spring practices began to be part of the endeavor.
Lazarek concluded, “We really hope to keep doing this and adding on to next year and keep the money coming and to keep riding.”