You know it’s been a long day when you’ve been awake long enough to witness the first break of light at 5 a.m.

Some exhausted participants of this year’s Relay for Life described the sunrise as bittersweet after they watched the first rays of sunlight break over the horizon beyond Lake Washington. The elation of knowing that the 18-hour event was nearly over was followed by the realization that three hours still remained before the end of the relay.

Those feelings are a reminder of an experience familiar to those who have survived the battle with cancer, though on a much smaller, almost insignificant scale; the hardest part is finding the willpower and strength to continue, at the moment when you hit the point of complete exhaustion.

“[Cancer] changed my life because I learned to never give up,” Marie Stover said. Stover is an 83-year-old survivor of lung cancer.

To Stover, “never give up” is much more than a saying or a motto. Stover stayed active for the duration of the entire 18-hour event, which began with a survivor’s lap at 2 p.m. Saturday and ended with a closing ceremony at 8 a.m. Sunday. Stover was one of many cancer survivors who led by example.

“[This event] means a great deal to me because I’m a survivor,” Stover said.

Purple T-shirts with the word “survivor” printed on the back identified cancer survivors among the crowd of more than 3,000 participants.

The presence of cancer survivors, side-by-side with UW students, was only one of many inspiring moments during the event.

Craig Simmons, UW Relay for Life co-chair and a UW junior, was inspired to become involved with Relay for Life after his father was diagnosed with colon cancer when Simmons was in the eighth grade.

“I’m very proud of it; my biggest accomplishments have been through [Relay for Life],” Simmons said.

Simmons was the chair of Relay for Life during his senior year of high school. He has been continually involved with Relay for Life and was co-chair for the UW Relay for Life, which is many times larger than the relay he was first involved with.

“The event is overnight, and the idea behind that is cancer never sleeps, so why should we? So at any given time, there is a member from every team walking at all times. It signifies our unity in fighting this disease,” he said. “For me, it’s significant because my dad had cancer, and I love being on the planning side because I can see this event itself grow and have more and more people join this fight against cancer.”

In addition to his work as co-chair, Simmons was one of the top five individual fundraisers for the event.

Junior Ashley Bogard found the position of UW Relay for Life co-chair to be the perfect way for her to get involved because of her passion for event planning and the fight against cancer.

“My dad has skin cancer, my grandmother has breast cancer and so [Relay for Life] is an event that really hits home for me,” Bogard said.

“Without what we do here, all of the research and all of the progress that has been made would not be as far along as it is because of all the relays that happen around the country,” Bogard said. “It’s a really important cause, and I love seeing how we had 3,000 people get involved and all pull together behind a cause that means so much to us. I’m proud of what we accomplished.”

Saturday’s event was larger than any previous year, with 193 teams participating, an increase from last year’s event by more than 20 teams and 200 more registered participants.

The event raised $248,647 and will continue to accept donations through August. The UW Relay for Life is the largest relay in Washington state and is the second-largest college relay behind Virginia Tech, which became the largest relay event after the massacre in 2007.

“One of the things that makes the UW event exciting is that so much of the money comes back to UW researchers, whether they are here on campus or whether they are part of the whole system with the Seattle Care Alliance or the Fred Hutchinson Center,” said Chris Aversano, staff partner for the American Cancer Society. “We actually give more money back than we raise in the Puget Sound because there are so many awesome [cancer centers] here.”

The money raised from Relay for Life events has had numerous tangible effects.

“Everything that has happened in cancer development, whether it’s research or diagnostics, has been funded by the American Cancer Society,” Aversano said.

A researcher, funded through money generated by Relay for Life, invented the drug Gleevac that treats a specific type of leukemia without the adverse side effects associated with cancer treatments like radiation.

“Now there’s a 90 percent cure rate on this specific type of cancer that basically killed everyone [diagnosed],” Aversano said. “The researcher that developed that was funded by the American Cancer Society. We’ve had 42 Nobel Prize laureates that have been funded by the American Cancer Society as well.”

Aversano said the most touching part of Relay for Life was the Luminaria Ceremony.

At approximately 10:30 p.m., the lights of Husky Stadium were turned off, illuminating thousands of candle-lit bags, each signifying someone who has died from — or is currently battling — cancer.

“You see people huddling around bags for people that they’ve lost, and you just see the impact and how difficult it is for people,” Aversano said.

Aversano witnessed the Luminaria Ceremony during the first Relay for Life event he attended, and it was a moment that solidified his belief in the significance of the event.

“My first experience was seeing a little boy that had lost his father a couple of weeks before [the event],” Aversano said. “He was about the same age as my daughter at the time. This little boy was so young that he’ll have no memories of his father anymore. His father was taken before he will have any real true memories of him. It was sad.”

Aversano said the Lumanaria Ceremony continues to have a strong impression on him.

“You see people huddling in front of a bag, and they sit, and they remember,” Aversano said. “And that is why I do what I do.”

Reach reporter Michael Truong at features@dailyuw.com.