Relaying Our Sister

carly orris
Pi Beta Phi

In the dictionary, sister is defined as related by or as if by sisterhood; closely related. Although we don’t come from the same parents, the girls of Pi Beta Phi are a family. We definitely proved that at the Kickoff of Relay For Life.

During the Kickoff a Luminaria Video played. During the video names of people appear on the screen (father, mother, brother, sister, etc.) and if someone you have been affected by appears you are asked to stand up and see who else around you has been affected.

When the word SISTER appeared on the video, without hesitation every Pi Phi sister stood up, sending chills throughout the whole entire Greek Community.

One of my Pi Phi sisters, Megan Harris, has been recently diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma in December. Going into the event, we knew it would be hard on Meg to watch the whole presentation while going through this horrible disease.

The moment Meg stood up when the video said “Myself,” was the moment she succumbed to her own vulnerability. 

When the next word “Sister” appeared it became an unspoken thing for all 109 members of Pi Beta Phi to stand up with her.

This moment lead everyone on the Greek Community speechless, and had the MSUGreekLife Twitter tweeting about it. Meg said that after the ceremony she had people texting her about how brave she is, and how amazing it was for everyone in our house to stand up and support her like the way we did. The night after at the weekly Greek Week meeting, the Vice President of External Relation of Panhellenic Council expressed how she got also received the chills during the ceremony too.

Meg is the girl in our sorority who knows how to brighten everyone’s day. She puts a smile on everyone’s face and makes us laugh till we’re in pain. When she confided in us that she had just been recently diagnosed with cancer, we were right there to support her e­very step of the way.

During this rough time, Meg has received comfort and support from the rest of the Greek Community. The gentlemen of Sigma Pi brought her flowers and each one of them gave her a hug and told her that they will be there to support her throughout the way.

Sisterhood for Pi Phi isn’t just a ten-letter word. It’s a meaning and emotion that we share. It’s a reason to put other before us and to be behind them one hundred and ten percent. That’s why on February 4th, we won’t be relaying just for our love ones we lost, but also for our sister Meg. That’s why our teams of Pi Phi, Kappa Sigma, and Alpha Gamma Rho are going to be wearing the colors lime green headbands, for Lymphoma, and violet bows for Hodgkins. One of our sisters Alicia Johnson, is also making us pins saying “We Relay for Our Sister.”

Meg has started to blog during her journey. The blog is able to keep people update about what she’s going through, and it is also an outlet for her to express her feelings about the process. (http://megcharris.wordpress.com/)

Carly is a sophomore studying communication. You may contact her at orriscar@msu.edu.