EUGENE, Mo. - Just after her father learned he had cancer, Jess Adrian also learned she would be an aunt.
Just before her father, Allen Schulte, died, he was given an envelope with his granddaughter's gender.
"Andi Jo brought back to our family something that was lost for a bit," Adrian said Tuesday evening at Eugene Schools' cancer awareness event.
Months later, "Again, I got the dreaded call from Mom to come to the house ... I knew right away the news was not good ... they had found a grapefruit-sized tumor on Andi's sacrum."
Andi Schulte, now 2, sat in the crowd as her aunt, the school's counselor and softball coach, told the story with a happy ending - she is cancer free.
The annual cancer awareness night, hosted by the Eugene Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA), raises money for the group's Relay for Life Team.
More than 300 purple balloons were released from little hands and adult hands alike from the school's practice field just before dismissal Tuesday.
Some balloons were sent with messages, hearts, names and hopes, like Nola Polly's on which she wrote "In Memory of Deb," her father's cousin who died of cancer only a few weeks ago.
For Maggie Morris, FCA president, organizing the cancer awareness night and balloon release is not just another activity.
Morris lost her father, Jim Morris, to cancer six years ago. She remembers him walking as a survivor at Relay for Life. Since he died, her family has made supporting the American Cancer Society a priority.
"When I see survivors walking or hear that someone has cancer, it's harder for me because I know what they're going through," Morris said.
Through these events, Morris said she hopes to help the team reach its $7,000 goal to donate to the society. She also wants people to realize the impact the disease has had on the lives around them.
"It's not just a little problem; it's impacted family and friends across the world."