Lauren Richards is living, breathing THON

Photo submitted by Lauren Richards.

This week I interviewed Lauren Richards to learn about her experience with THON.

Choosing Lauren to talk to was no mistake. She is Penn State New Kensington’s THON chair, and more than one person has described her as “crazy” about THON.

Hopefully her experiences will encourage others to get involved, too.

On her favorite THON moment: “This year I went to THON's Family Carnival. There was a really little kid with glasses who was scared of Andrew Holodnik, one of our THON members, because Andrew was dressed up as a knight. He was just so shy, but he had a lot of fun. I just want to help kids like him.”

Rylee Dorer's fight for life

“I am a survivor,” giggles Rylee Dorer.

Her voice has a peculiar tone, surely too mature for an eight-year old. But Rylee is just that, a mature, curiously intellectual 8-year old cancer survivor.

Two years ago Rylee attended her brother Corbin’s soccer game and snacked on Goldfish. Suddenly, she felt her chest burning, and tears crawled down her cheeks. Amanda Dorer, Rylee’s mother, had her sip some water, only to have Rylee cry desperately while her chest aches intensified.

“I began loading the kids [Rylee, Corbin and their little sister Dalaney] into the car, but Rylee was okay when we were ready to go,” Amanda said.

Despite sleeping comfortably over night, Rylee woke up the next morning with severely bloodshot eyes and abnormal breathing. The family pediatrician prescribed her amoxicillin, but two days later a chest X-ray exposed a mass the size of an egg pressing against Rylee’s trachea.

Her life took a turn sharper than her chest pains.

Pies, Penny Wars and Canning

This Wednesday, during club rush, Penn State New Kensington THON made a strong push as we get closer to THON weekend.

THON set-up its club rush tables in New Kensington’s cafeteria and took pies in the face for two straight hours. Students and faculty paid one dollar to throw a pie at THON members and two dollars to get up close and personal for a can’t miss shot at someone’s face.

Admittedly, I missed my target on my first throw, so I went back, paid two more dollars and made sure I didn’t miss New Kensington THON chair Lauren Richards a second time.

The meaning of THON

Sometimes we do not get out of bed.

Maybe we don’t want to go to our first class, or maybe we're just too warm and comfortable to move.

Some people can’t get out of bed.

They are children with cancer that do want to go to class. To them, their beds are the least comfortable place in the world.

That’s where THON comes in.

An Introduction

Hello and welcome to my THON blog!

I'm Shawn Annarelli, a third-year journalism major who will report weekly news on Penn State's THON and occasionally write feature stories on children with cancer.

I'm going outside of my comfort zone with this blog. I have run a sports blog before. That and other sports reporting experiences have been rewarding, but I feel I need to switch it up and become more diverse.

I joined THON less than 24 hours ago. I've wanted to be a part of THON since I learned about it during my sophomore year at Penn State Behrend. Time spent in class, in newsrooms and at work always served as a buffer to me having the time to participate in THON.

I'm still doing all of those things, but I realized that if I join THON my greatest accomplishment at Penn State won't be graduating or writing a front page story.

It will be trying to make a difference in a child's life.