Light The Night: Meet Team Smile

The North Texas Light The Night Walks (LTN) are filled with inspiring teams, incredible stories and motivated fundraisers.  The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) feels that it is important to highlight some of the teams that made a real impact this year.

Team Smile was created by Christine Hopkins, DDS., MS. several years ago.  She organized the team after a close family member was diagnosed with a rare and incurable form of lymphoma.  Dr. Hopkins felt that creating a team and fundraising for LLS through the LTN Walk was a way to show her support of her family member's fight.  Below she answers some questions about the event.

Tell us about the team you put together for the 2014 Light The Night Walk?  

Our team is composed of my staff from the office, patients from the office, and other dental colleague and families and friends. We have typically 30 to 40 walkers every year, which we are very proud of.  For our patients, this also serves as a opportunity to get them to be involve in a charity event.  We have patients comment on how nice it is that we have a team and they can just join instead of looking for a team.  As for the office, this is a once a year, charity event that we dedicated to,  It is team bonding and it feels great to work together to fundraise and be involved as a team. 

What was your favorite part (or parts) of the evening?  

The walk is a beautiful event.  It is so beautiful with the lighted lanterns.  My favorite part is that I know that we have support from our family and friends, we have fun, and we support our love ones.  It is just wonderful!  It is also wonderful to see other cancer patients/families who are going through the same things and who had survived.  It gives me hope for my own family.

What would you tell other people considering walking in the Light The Night Walk next year?  

This is the best walk and charity to support.  It is family friendly.  Children can participate with ease.  I love to bring my children, they are 11 and 8.  They love the balloons, and they started walking with me when my youngest was 6.  It is also a great way to get kids involved when they are little, to help them to have a life-long appreciation of doing a good deed for others, and life is not only for themselves.  We live for other people instead of just us. 

Why do you support LLS and its goal of creating a world without blood cancers?  

I do not want any other families to suffer as we do.  It is tough to know that one of your loved one has a disease that is not curable.  Blood cancers affect people of all ages.  We need to stop this.