Cancer awareness event born out of personal tragedy
The local dancing event called “Bailando por un Sueño” was born out of personal tragedy suffered by one of the organizers.
Oscar Garcia said, “My mother-in-law passed away from Hepatitis-C. That kind of drove the whole inner part of me to start reaching out to the community and raising money for medical needs. And it all kind of led to children and teenagers with cancer.”
The annual event brings hope for many of those children.
“These families and children, most of them don’t even have transportation for the chemotherapy,” Garcia said.
Six local families with children fighting cancer met recently with their dancing stars- an emotional moment.
“Just seeing their faces, the star’s faces, when we pull that number and we tell them who they’re going to represent, they get excited. They go and meet the family, they meet the child, they take pictures, interact, exchange phone numbers. When I see them interact with those families and the children it just touches my heart in knowing how beautiful this cause is,” Garcia said.
The event brings together the whole community behind those families.
“We’re celebrating their lives. And more than anything, we’re raising awareness and raising money for these families,” Garcia said.
Garcia is deeply touched by each individual struggle.
“When I see the child, and when I see the families, I see the love that they have for the children, and the effort, the struggle they do. We can’t even imagine what they go through every single day,” Garcia said.
The 5 th Annual “Bailando por un Sueño” will be held in late October. Anyone interested can contact them at their Facebook page – Dancing for a Dream.
