Graduation is a period of transition for outgoing seniors. That was especially true for MSU alumnus Alex Berlin, who was diagnosed with cancer a week after walking. 

Berlin was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer which primarily affects children and young adults.

Human biology senior Alex Loji said Berlin notified his fraternity brothers in a Facebook group on what was going on.

“Our initial response was we want to do something for him,” Loji said.

To raise awareness of the disease, advertising junior Aaron Mucciante created a fundraiser with his Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity brothers in honor of Berlin, who was also a member.

Macciante said the Twitter account “Lift For Berlin” and the hashtags #LiftForBerlin and #LFB are meant to inspire people to be active for Berlin, who is not able to work out as much anymore. Berlin previously was active in hockey and weightlifting, but his cancer makes being active difficult.

“We all decided since he can’t go to the gym as much, we would be more active for him,” Macciante said.

Macciante said he was encouraged to start raising money after success of the Twitter account and hashtags.

Berlin said the account and the hashtags have been really encouraging for him and he’s trying to be strong through the fight.

“I want to eliminate the bad stigma associated with the word ‘cancer,'” Berlin said.

Macciante said seeing Berlin in the hospital and going through chemotherapy, there is no excuse for people not to be active.

“We’re trying to get peoples’ motivation levels up,” Macciante said. “I’m really interested to see how this goes.”

Almost every other tweet on the “Lift For Berlin” Twitter account shows pictures of people lifting or working out.

The goal of the fundraiser is to raise $10,000. So far, $1,030 has been raised.

While in the hospital, Berlin said he was visited by a group called “Miles 2 Give.” The group travels around or across the country as a team to to raise money for sarcoma research.

Berlin said he was touched by the group and their purpose and would like some of the money to go to them, and the rest to another charity that has yet to be determined.

Macciante said Berlin has expressed he does not want any of the money to go toward him, but to researching a sarcoma cancer.