It was an all night affair at Carnesecca Arena on the campus of St. John’s University, Jamaica, but that didn’t stop nearly 1,500 students and one special guest from attending the school’s “Relay for Life: Carnival for Hope” on April 20-21.

Red Storm men’s basketball coach Steve Lavin was the featured speaker at the event. He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in April, 2011, but he is now cancer-free.

From 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., students walked a total of 12 hours in Carnesecca Arena to raise money for the American Cancer Society. Relay for Life is completely driven by the university’s students.

Even before his diagnosis, Lavin had supported multiple local and national cancer organizations, and that had picked up since his diagnosis. In September, 2012, Lavin led more than 400 fans of St. John’s men’s and women’s basketball teams in raising more than $25,000 for pediatric cancer research at the service event “Dribble for the Cure.”