Christina Paraskevopoulos

Sarah's Stars
 

Christina didn’t know Sarah personally, but Sarah’s father, Mr. Watkin, was Christina’s teacher.

The work that LLSC does is very important to Christina. When she was younger, she lost her uncle to blood cancer and so this is a cause close to her heart and her family’ heart. She also looks up to Mr. Watkin and was honoured to take on the role to celebrate the spirit of Sarah and show her school’s continued support of the Watkin family.

Light The Night is a positive event, where people come together to raise awareness about those who battle blood cancers. The lanterns offer a visible representation to the public of an otherwise hard-to-see illness (unless one is suffering from, or has a loved one who is suffering, most people don’t really think about blood cancers). It creates an image that resonates with people, and it is memorable—similar to the pink ribbon campaigns for breast cancer. She absolutely loves the lanterns. She loves how they represent each group of people and how people holding them are identified to one another. She also feels very strongly about walking by SickKids Hospital and seeing all the children in the windows, it’s a very moving part of the walk.

Christina is going to University next year to study science. She already told us that there are interested students at G.W. who would like to continue the tradition of bringing Sarah’s Stars back to Light The Night 2020.