On Dec. 3, Northside Hospital will light the giant trees atop its hospitals in Atlanta, Alpharetta and Cumming. More than 3,000 people will attend the 23rd annual Celebration of Lights event on the Cumming campus of Northside Hospital-Forsyth.
“For many commuters driving on Ga. 400 or I-285, the lighted tree on top of the hospital signals the start of the holiday season, but for us, it means more than that. We like to think of our trees as hope for cancer patients and their families,” said Lynn Jackson, BSN, RN, MPH, administrator at Northside Hospital-Forsyth.
Purchased by families, friends, hospital staff and community supporters, each light on the tree represents someone whose life has been touched by cancer.
“The money raised from the lights goes to fund cancer educational materials, support programs and research to insure that our patients get the most compassionate and up-to-date treatments possible,” Jackson said.
Jackson has been part of planning the Celebration of Lights event since 2002, when Northside purchased the 62-bed Georgia Baptist Medical Center facility in Cumming. With space for a crowd in a huge parking lot, the Forsyth campus hosts the Celebration of Lights event for the Northside Hospital system.
“It takes a lot of work and coordination, but we look forward to this exceptionally exciting event all year long,” she said. “One year, a male cancer survivor told the poignant story of what the tree had meant to him, and I’ve never forgotten it. He was in the hospital for a bone marrow transplant when we lit the tree, and he vowed to himself that the next year he would be outside the hospital with his family viewing the tree lighting.
“The next year he was the honorary tree lighter and he told the crowd, ‘Here I am a year later with my family. The tree gave me hope and I realized my dream.’ That sort of represents why we do this year after year.”
The Celebration of Lights is a family-friendly event that includes entertainment, food and children’s activities.
“We try to provide something different every year,” Jackson said.
This year, there will be performances by the First Baptist Church of Cumming handbell choir, elementary school choirs, the Synergy Cloggers and Sole Impulse Dance Studio. Santa Claus will hear gift wish lists and pose for photos.
Jackson is proud that the event is good for the community and that it gives people a chance to support cancer patients and their families. “We find that if you give people an opportunity to help, they want to be part of it,” she said. “We always have lots of former and current cancer patients and their families who come.”
The instant the tree is lit and the fireworks go off is Jackson’s favorite moment.
“I love it when we’re all focused on the same thing. The tree lights up beautifully — you know it’s a beacon of hope — and you hear the ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ of the crowd,” Jackson said. “It always gives me butterflies in my stomach.”
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