Brightly lit can­dles filled the gym. They illu­mi­nated the faces of those hon­or­ing sur­vivors and those remem­ber­ing ones who had passed. Others shone tri­umphantly on sur­vivors them­selves and on their faith­ful caregivers.

Molly Pugliese, sopho­more in pre-nursing, was one of those many faces, hold­ing a can­dle not for one lost loved one, but for two. In 2009, both of Pugliese’s grandpa’s passed away. On her father’s side, her Grandpa Tom bat­tled an aggres­sive brain can­cer that took his life in two weeks. Only 14 days later, com­pli­ca­tions of emphy­sema and pan­cre­atic can­cer took her mother’s father, her Grandpa Howie.

“My Grandpa Tom was always very, very healthy. He and my grandma were going to the gym every­day when he fell one time. They rushed him to the ER, did some tests and found noth­ing was wrong,” Pugliese said.

However, a few weeks later upon return­ing to the gym, Pugliese’s grandpa had another fall. The next hos­pi­tal visit con­firmed some­thing was indeed wrong.

“That’s when they found out he had brain can­cer,” Pugliese said.

Shortly after, when her Grandpa Howie was diag­nosed with pan­cre­atic can­cer, Pugliese had to decide how she’d han­dle the hardship.

“I was out of school the entire month of April going to and from the hos­pi­tal. With my Grandpa Tom, there wasn’t much they could do because it was so quick. My mom is as can­cer nurse coun­selor, so I leaned a lot on her, as well as on friends and my fam­ily. I with­drew myself from the rest of the world. When some­one I love is in trou­ble, I shut every­thing else out and want to help them get bet­ter,” Pugliese said.

Pugliese, very close to both her grandpa’s, remem­bered a moment with her Grandpa Tom, for whom she now has a tat­too in remembrance.

“I drove into Chicago one week­end and saw my grandpa Tom who is 100% Italian. I remem­ber say­ing good­bye to him in Italian and he still under­stood,” Pugliese said. “He passed away at home with my dad and his other eight boys. That day they were all in the bed­room with him and my grandma in a tiny condo sleep­ing on the floor.”

Another per­sonal sen­ti­ment marked her time with her Grandpa Howie.

“I was able to see my Grandpa Howie the same week­end I saw Grandpa Tom. He was in and out of con­scious­ness. I left and said ‘I love you grandpa’ and kissed him on the fore­head. I knew he knew who I was even thought he couldn’t say any­thing,” Pugliese said.

Despite the loss, Pugliese remem­bers her grand­pas’ lega­cies, and holds on to the pieces of what they gave her.

“They were both extremely hard work­ing. My dad was one of nine and my mom one of seven, and they were both the only providers in their fam­ily. They were reli­gious as well which is some­thing I took from them,” Pugliese said.

Pugliese plans on tak­ing her expe­ri­ence to fur­ther fuel her future career goal and pas­sion as an oncol­ogy nurse.

“I’ve always wanted to be a nurse, but after see­ing what they went through, I want to be like my mom. Just see­ing some­thing like that is why I’m here today; it is one of the few things in life I feel so pas­sion­ate about—finding the cure for can­cer and not let­ting some­one else go through what my grand­pas did,” Pugliese said.

Relay for life at Ferris raised over $19,500 this year, at step toward help­ing the lives of those like Pugliese’s grandparents.