Over fifty students and faculty wore gray yesterday in support of National Brain Tumor Awareness Month to bring attention to an important part of one student’s life.

Sophomore Sonja Brueggeman, whose mother was diagnosed three years ago and currently battles Stage Three Terminal Brain Cancer wanted to show her mom how much others support and pray for their family by asking students and teachers to wear gray, the color for brain cancer.

“My plan was to get people to realize that there are so many different kinds of cancers out there. People don’t always understand that things aren’t so simple,”  Brueggeman said. “Nobody understands how bad brain cancer could be, but if one wrong nerve is hit, then someone could be paralyzed and they could lose all of their memories. People don’t realize that having cancer in your brain is pretty much something you can’t get rid of. It’s a really big deal and I want people to realize how important it is for other people to have support from their friends.”

Brueggeman calls the May 31 event “a success,” knowing that “everyone cared and even if they forgot, then they wished they would’ve worn gray.” She says she plans to do something like this in the following years.

“I think I’ll definitely try to do it next year, seeing how things can go, and seeing if other people will be able to participate, and I’ll be able to get the word out better,” Brueggemann said. “I probably will think more about having everybody included, maybe doing school announcements, and people just sending their own tags on Twitter with hashtag wear gray today for LZ. Then I can just have my mom go and see all of those tweets throughout the day.”

One student who particulated the event believed itcould have been bigger,  but alost found success in the goal of the event.

“It was thoughtful for people to wear gray and I’m glad people remembered. It was successful. I think it would have been better if it was a bigger announcement, but it’s sweet that she did that for her mom,” Matt Mauleon, sophomore, said. “I think with what she’s going through right now, I think she was happy that people thought about it.”