Youth: 'I Donate My Birthday' to Relay For Life

Jason Abel officially becomes a teenager March 27 and he marked the occasion of his birthday as he has for the past few years, by donating money that would have been spent on his gifts to the American Cancer Society's Riverview Relay For Life.

"The last four years he refused any birthday gifts," said David Keplinger, Abel's grandfather. As for the birthday cake? "I buy the cake," said Keplinger's wife, Barbara Jones Keplinger, "and he donates it to the survivors at the Relay."

Barbara Keplinger, who has battled thyroid, stomach and cervical cancer, said the boy also grows his hair as long as he can, for Locks for Love, a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis.

On March 23 at Riverview High School, on the opening day of the overnight Relay For Life fundraiser at Riverview High School, Abel said he donates his cake, money and time because he has one very clear goal in mind: "I don't want cancer to be around anymore."

"And this year I also got to play my bass guitar for the survivors," he added.

For Abel, the largesse has become a tradition.

"When I first learned about the Relay For Life, I gave up my birthday," Abel said. "It makes me feel like I'm helping people get through a hard time."