FTK!

There are a few weekends every year that are special remembrances of my time at Penn State.  And I have loved nothing more than sharing those special times with the kids.  Joshua really loves PSU football (any sports, really) and I can only hope that the girls will develop the same love of it as we do.  But another very special weekend to me every year is THON, or Dance Marathon. 

When I was a sophomore in college, a very dear friend of mine from high school who also happened to be at PSU (we remained friends, and even sang together in University Choir) was selected as a dancer in THON.  I remember distinctly how I felt when I went to the White Building (a tiny little gym in the middle of campus) to cheer him on.  I ended up standing at the fence with him for hours on end.  And then couldn't do anything other than be there with him to watch him finish out the 48 hour marathon on his feet.  And I was hooked.  THON had touched my heart, and I only dreamed to be a part of it someday.

 

THON, at that time, was a 48 hour dance marathon where 2 dancers per organization on campus were selected to represent their groups on the floor of the event where they would collect money to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund, a charity that provides emotional and financial support to families whose children are fighting all forms of pediatric cancer.  And somehow, those 48 hours of struggle and exhaustion give us just the tiniest little bit of perspective to help understand what those moms and dad and sweet kiddos are going through as they fight the battle for their lives.  You stand up at 7 pm on Friday evening, and don't sit down again until 7 pm on Sunday evening. 

 

I was lucky enough to be selected as a dancer for University Choir in the fall of my junior year.  So on a very special weekend in February of 1999, I packed my duffle bags and headed for Rec Hall (the brand new location for THON after the event had grown so large that the White Building couldn't hold it.)  Several special friends were also dancing with me-- for other organizations-- but we were determined to be there for each other.  This whole event was a real stretch for me.  Never had I pulled an "all nighter".  Never had I exerted myself physically to this extent.  Never had I pushed myself emotionally to this degree.  My parents were not happy that I was about to embark on this journey, and shared their concerns with me--- frankly, all of which were things that I was terrified about as well, not that I would tell them that.  But I knew that the opportunity to be a part of something like this was going to be the chance of a lifetime.  And I wasn't going to miss it.

Each organization is paired up with a Four Diamonds family, and ours was the Warfields.  A group of us from U Choir had travelled to their home in Harrisburg and spent an evening with them one night- we shared dinner, learned of their son, Logan's, story with a cancerous tumor behind his eye, and all of the experiences they had with his treatment.  He was currently in remission, and THON weekend was his favorite weekend of the year.  More than Christmas.  And if that doesn't tell you something about how much THON means, I don't know what does.  The families are on the floor with their dancers as much as they want to be, and we always had a great time when Logan and his little brother, Dylan, were on the floor with us.  Logan loved piggy back rides.  And Dylan was always carrying a squirt gun, and wasn't a bit hesitant to use it.

Friends and family took lots of turns coming to support us and keep us energized.  The stands at Rec Hall were constantly full--- especially building toward the end of the weekend when the emotional Family Hour took place and leading up to the conclusion of the event.  We had a harder and harder time as the weekend drew on--- hallucinating, needing foot massages, getting delirious, etc.  At one point, I was crying more than I was doing anything else.  But we pressed on.

When the weekend was over, and we got a chance to sit down, I have never felt relief like that in my life.  As the totals were revealed, we learned that our collective efforts--- and by that I mean the entire Penn State campus--- had raised over $5 million dollars to help fight pediatric cancer and support the families who were dealing with this horrendous disease.  I had never been so proud to be a part of something in my entire life.  And I still am.

 

And so, on Sunday afternoon, the kids and I watched the live Web Cast from the Bryce Jordan Center (because THON has once again outgrown its home) and we watched the last several hours of the magic as it happened with those 700+ dancers who had been on their feet since Friday afternoon.  We cried as Family Hour took place, and parents talked about the impact that THON had on their kids, their courage to fight, their victories over cancer, and for some, the gaining of their angel wings.  I sobbed as they played "Angels Among Us" and it had the same effect as it did on me when I stood with Doug as he danced in 1998.  We watched as the Nittany Lion (who, by the way, completed this year's THON IN FULL COSTUME) fell to the floor when the countdown was over.  And we cried as we watched the total be revealed--- $13,000,000 for the kids...or FTK, in THON speak. 

And again, I've never been prouder to share with my children what I had a chance to be such a small little part of during my time at Penn State.  And I secretly hope that they will also want to be a part of something so special one day...no matter where their college careers take them.  And you can bet I'll be there the whole time supporting them.