As some of you may know, the month of September is Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. This month brings a great deal of meaning and awareness to the small town of Lexington, Massachusetts. Two years ago a tradition began at Lexington High School, in hopes to rally behind an ill classmate battling cancer. This young, talented, and beautiful volleyball star was Molly Eisenberg, a former graduate of Lexington High School (class of 2008). Everyone who knew Molly said she had an enormous personality and an infectious smile with the ability to light up a room. Unfortunately I never had the pleasure of knowing Molly, but by hearing her story and her connection to my high school I knew I wanted to do something to pass along her story and raise awareness about ovarian cancer.

Molly was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the fall of 2008, just one week into her freshman year at Oregon State University. As Molly courageously continued her battle with ovarian cancer, her friends and previous teammates wanted to show their support. Molly’s family had moved across the country to California shortly after her high school graduation, but Lexington would forever consider Molly one of their own. After countless hours and hundreds of ideas, the LHS girls’ volleyball team developed “Volley for Molly” a charity event designed to raise awareness about Molly’s battle and the disease itself. The girls wanted Molly to know that they were always thinking of her and sending their support. Hundreds of people came out to support the girl’s volleyball team as they took on the Reading Rockets (they were fundraising for breast cancer awareness at the same time). The event raised close to $15,000 for ovarian cancer research. Unfortunately Molly was too sick to attend the event, which had over 1,000 attendees, but she was able to watch the event with her family on the internet.

Sadly, Molly lost her battle to ovarian cancer just a few weeks later, but her story continues to live on through this annual event. This year “Volley for Molly” will take place on Friday, September 30th from 4:00-9:30 p.m. in the Lexington High School gymnasium. Tickets for the event are $5 dollars for students and $8 dollars for adults. All are welcome to attend the event and watch the Lexington Minuteman take on the Reading Rockets as they “volley” to end ovarian cancer!

-Emily