In support of September's Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, Tyler High School students participated in “Stick It to Cancer” by sticking principal Claude Lane to the wall during lunch. Students were able to purchase a strip of tape for $2. The goal was to have enough tape holding the principal so that he will remain attached to the wall when the stool is removed from under his feet.

When Aneesa Cedillo was just 6 years old, she was diagnosed with a rare type of cancer known as Ewing Sarcoma. She spent 11 months undergoing chemotherapy, which caused her to repeat the first grade.

Now a senior at Early College High School, Cedillo has been cancer free for 11 years but still deals with long-term effects of the treatments. Her journey has inspired multiple schools in Tyler ISD to support the effort to help local kids currently battling cancer.

At Tyler High School on Friday, students participated in “Stick It to Cancer” by sticking Principal Claude Lane, who was Cedillo’s principal when she attended Moore Middle School, to the wall during lunch. Students purchased a strip of tape for $2, and the goal was to have enough tape to hold up Lane so that when the stool he was standing on was removed from under his feet, Lane would remain attached to the wall.

“Ever since we first started at Moore Middle School, she wanted to help those with childhood cancer,” Lane said. “This year, we’ve teamed up to raise awareness and school spirit, and I can’t think of any other way to do this than to teach our kids to give back.”

Cedillo said she noticed there wasn’t as much representation for childhood cancer. “So, in eighth grade, I realized that I could just go for it… raise money, donations and see where that leads me,” she said.

During that time, she enlisted the help of her peers and her teachers in middle school to raise money to go toward childhood cancer. In just one day, they raised over $1,000, she said.

“It’s so good to see things come full circle, especially since it’s my senior year,” Cedillo said. “It’s so good to see that our efforts to spread awareness for childhood cancer have come so far.”

Cedillo was able to help stick her former middle school principal to the wall.

“It felt like being a mummy,” Lane said of being taped on the wall. “Cancer is a very serious thing but I’m glad we can have some fun and give people hope.”

The proceeds raised will go towards the Gold Network of East Texas, an organization that was founded by childhood cancer moms with the mission of raising awareness for pediatric cancer and providing assistance to East Texas families impacted by childhood cancer, as well as raising funds for pediatric cancer research.

“My favorite part of this is knowing that other families in East Texas will see this… and see they’re not alone,” Cedillo said. “They’ll see that there’s supporters for them. I try my best to speak for them — to be a voice for them.”

According to the Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, the largest single funder, the Federal Government, invests just 4% of its annual cancer research budget in childhood cancer, which is less than $3 per child.

“I really would like that to be more than four percent because children are the future and we need to protect our children and… show them that we are in their corner,” Cedillo said.