Thousands will Walk in Honor of Decatur Resident

The Georgia Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) will host the annual Atlanta Light The Night Walk (LTN) on Saturday, October 12, at 5 pm at Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta. The Walk encourages teams of families, friends, co-workers and local and national corporations to come together to raise funds for LLS. This will be one of five Light The Night Walks held in the state of Georgia this Fall. As inspiration for the Walk, LLS has selected an honored hero that has fought lymphoma.

Davida Edwards, a Decatur resident and mother of one son, is this year’s honored hero. When Davida was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma in April of 2007, she was four months pregnant with her son David. After David was born, she began chemotherapy and radiation treatments and has been cancer free for five years! Davida loves to travel, play with her son and watch sports.

“We are pleased to have honored hero Davida a part of the Walk. We have received a tremendous amount of support from the community and it really shows in the enthusiasm demonstrated by our partners, sponsors and Walk teams for the Light The Night Walk. We are currently on track to reach our goal of $1.3 million and we could not do it without the many volunteers and participants who helped this Walk,” said Jeff Abbott, Metro Atlanta Light The Night Corporate Walk Chairman and Infor Senior Vice President, Global Alliances, Channels, Telesales, and Field Marketing.

The Atlanta walk will draw over 400 teams with over 8,000 participants, who have committed to raise $1.3 million for LLS. Funds will be used to fund lifesaving blood cancer research, free educational materials and events for patients and families, local family and patient support programs and comprehensive, personalized assistance through LLS’s Information Resource Center. During the event, walkers carry illuminated balloons - white for survivors, red for supporters and gold in memory of loved ones lost to cancer -- and form a community of caring, bringing light to the dark world of cancer. The White Balloon Reception for cancer patients and survivors is at 5:40 pm with the Walk to follow.

The Walk’s presenting sponsors are Carter’s and Infor. Carter’s is celebrating 15 years of supporting the Light The Night Walk and raising $3 million since its involvement.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Georgia Chapter is also celebrating its 15th Anniversary of the Light The Night Walk in Atlanta. Help us raise $15,000 towards the fight against blood cancers by making a donation here: http://bit.ly/LTN15th. For more information about LLS or the Atlanta event, contact Light The Night staff at (404) 720-7841 or log on to www.lightthenight.org/ga.