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.

THON is a year-long effort to raise funds and awareness for children with cancer, and Penn State students have run the philanthropy for the last 39 years. THON started with a few dozen students who raised $2,000 in 1973. That modest beginning grew into over 15,000 student volunteers and over $9 million raised in 2011, making it the largest student-run philanthropy in the world.

But THON is more than thousands of students canning for donations and wanting to find a cure for cancer. THON is about the camaraderie between a student and a child with cancer from when they first meet. When students meet their THON child they become more than just a random co-ed trying to help a child. They become friends, supporters and confidants to their THON child and family.

I know this, because two years ago I interviewed Molly Thomas, who was Penn State Behrend’s THON chair during the 2009-2010 school year. We discussed her first meeting with Penn State Behrend’s THON child Rylee Dorer and how their relationship grew.

Thomas and Dorer met at Hershey Medical Center. Rylee was in the hospital for chemotherapy treatments, and Molly had to wear a medical gown and masks to be allowed in Rylee’s room. Molly was joined by three other THON members, and they entered that room unsure of how to act. 

Dorer and her family surprised them with an upbeat attitude.

Dorer’s attitude that day personified THON’s non-stop efforts, because once one THON year ends a new one begins.

A THON year ends when thousands of Penn State students, children with cancer and their families meet at University Park’s Bryce Jordan Center for a two-day dance maraTHON. This year’s dance maraTHON is from Feb. 17 to Feb. 19 and is 32 days, 17 hours, 23 minutes and 50 seconds away.

There, children with cancer will dance for as long as their legs can hold them up. THON dancers will dance non-stop for 46 straight hours. And children will tell their stories to strangers.

Most of all, tears will be shed for new THON children that have been diagnosed with cancer. Tears will be shed for THON children that have gone into remission.

And tears will be shed for THON children that could not join us.

Some THON children will have passed away.

Others could not get out of bed.

*Rylee Dorer’s story will be posted this week.