Community Corner

She's Been a Relay Captain for Four Years and She's Only 15

Natalie Souza hosted her 12th birthday at the first-ever Berlin Relay For Life.

When Natalie Souza was about to turn 12, she wanted to make her birthday special.

No, she didn't want a huge present or some extravagant party. Souza missed her grandfather, Charlie Grabowski, who had recently passed away from cancer, so she decided to remember him in a special way.

Souza decided to invite her friends to her birthday party, which she would hold at the first-ever Berlin Relay For Life behind Berlin High School. 

Find out what's happening in Berlinwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Since then, she has served as a team captain for Team Phoenix and is now the co- chairperson for the youth committee for Berlin's highly-successful Relay For Life. 

"I wanted to do something to remember my grandpa," Souza said. "All of my friends knew I wanted to do something great for my birthday. So I invited them to stay overnight for the Relay for my 12th birthday. I asked them to raise money for the Relay for Life instead of giving me a gift. I just wanted to raise awareness about cancer and hope people will get checked so they get early detection."

Find out what's happening in Berlinwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Souza is now 15 and is the daughter of Don and Gail Souza. This year, she spoke at the Luminaria ceremony to let people know the reasons she participates in Relay.

"Me and my grandpa were really close," said the high school freshman. "He basically watched me and my sister all the time when my parents were out or at work. 

"I saw how cancer affected him. He was such a goofball and always had great jokes. He didn't want to depend on other people but when he got sick he had to use and to move around was hard for him. I remember how full of life he was and then to see him struggle was hard for us to see."

So was Souza nervous about speaking at the highly-emotional Luminaria ceremony?

Yeah, I was really nervous," she admitted. "I was glad my friends were there and to be honest I was glad the podium was in front of me because my knees were shaking pretty bad."

Souza also said how she came up with her team name, Team Phoenix.

"Oh my gosh, it took us a really long time to come up with the team name," she said. "We were all really into the Harry Potter books at that time and the Phoenix was a really important part of the books. 

"We picked it because it is a mythical bird that burns into ashes but is then re-born and rises from the ashes. It is also supposed to have healing powers and we figured what a good team name in that cancer patients are re-born after treatment."

Souza said she will continue to come back as a team captain as long as there are Berlin Relay's For Life.

Hopefully we'll be able to stop having Relay when they find a cure for cancer," she added. 


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here