By many accounts, Penn State IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon (THON) never really ends for dancers and Four Diamonds families. Sure, they may stop attending the annual 46-hour dance party, but the sentiment that comes with being part of the organization remains long after the final total is revealed.
From fund-raising pioneers to cancer survivors, these families continue to embody THON today.
Larry and Karen Walker
The THON where Larry and Karen Walker met in the 1980s is very different than what exists today. Instead of the sprawling arena inside the Bryce Jordan Center, dancers crammed into the White Building. Fund-raising came mainly from fraternities and sororities, and the event was officially called the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon. And, thanks to the Walkers, the organization was just beginning to dip its toe into the water of corporate fund-raising.
Larry and Karen met when their organizations — Alpha Sigma Phi fraternity and Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority, respectively — were matched as a THON fund-aising team. As the story goes, Karen was on the dance floor of THON 1985 during her freshman year at Penn State. Larry had just returned from a last-minute canning weekend and entered the White Building just before the fund-raising total was announced.
“A whole carload of us showed up, and I finagled my way onto the dance floor. I guess you could say the rest is history,” Larry Walker says.
Even though she met her husband at THON, Karen Walker says the experience of dancing in event was one of the toughest things she’s ever done.
“I’ve had two kids, and physically that was harder than giving birth,” she says. “I didn’t know what I was getting myself into and I wasn’t prepared. They prepare you more now than they did back then.”
In 1989, the Alpha Sigma Phi and Alpha Sigma Alpha team became the first group to raise $100,000 in a single year. Today, all fund-raisers need to be approved by the THON’s rules and regulations committee, but that was not the case in the 1980s. Greek organizations used the lack of oversight to their advantage.
“We treated it like a business and started down the path of corporate giving by getting Pepsi involved,” Larry Walker says. “We were very organized and gave away incentive prizes that got people to donate.”
That same competitive spirit applied to canning weekends.
“They’re not allowed to do it now the way we did it then,” Larry Walker says. “We would fight with other groups to can at the intersection of Route 202 and Route 1 in Philadelphia. Now all of that is planned out and there’s more oversight of the committees.”
While much has changed about the logistics surrounding THON, its mission has not.
“The hook is the same now as it was then,” Karen Walker says. “Once you get involved, you’re hooked. It’s a great cause and huge community.”
Isabella Messina
Much like dancers maintain a community long after THON weekend ends, Four Diamonds children build relationships that extend far beyond the confines of the Bryce Jordan Center.
Isabella Messina, 16, is a two-time cancer survivor and has attended THON since 2004. She has been cancer-free since she was 6 and remains active with THON even though she no longer receives funding from the Four Diamonds Fund.
Her fondest memory is attending THON in 2008, not long after her leukemia relapse.
“I stood on my dad’s shoulders during the countdown to the final reveal,” says Messina, who is a student at State High. “The camera focused on me when everyone was singing ‘Hey Baby,’ and it was like the whole 14,000 people were singing to me.”
Isabella’s mother, Renee, frequently speaks at THON events. She tells new Four Diamonds families not to become too overwhelmed by the spectacle of the event during their first year.
“One thing that we do try to get across to the new families is that you have to pace yourself a little bit,” Renee Messina says. “Don’t get caught up in the weekend and don’t feel like you have to do everything.”
Outside of THON weekend, Isabella Messina says she sees many of her Four Diamonds friends at Camp Can Do, a summer camp for kids with cancer held in Mount Gretna. Like THON, participants share a common bond.
“Everyone’s had cancer so we have something in common,” she says. “Every year I’m surprised at how many new people are there who I’ve never met before.”
Now that she’s older, other activities are beginning to encroach on her involvement with THON. This year, she faces a dilemma of how to attend THON weekend and an out-of-town field hockey tournament.
“As the kids get older, they want to stay through the night at THON,” Renee Messina says. “There’s an external conflict between activities and a lesson in time management.”
No matter how that conflict resolves, Isabella says she will cherish whatever time she gets to spend in the Jordan Center.
“I love the beginning and the end when we all stand up together and all sit down together,” she says. “You realize how many people are actually there.”
Ashley Otstott
Ashley Otstott has been involved with THON for more than decade, but will see the event in a new way this year.
The freshman at Penn State Harrisburg is a member of the organization’s Family Relations committee and will work with her first THON family after spending more than a decade as Four Diamonds child herself.
“It’s exciting because I get to do both aspects of it,” she says. “I’m still a Four Diamonds child but got to go canning for the first two weekends. I still get to experience the Four Diamonds aspect and actually being a THON student.”
In September 2001, Otstott, of Harrisburg, was diagnosed with leukemia two days before her fourth birthday. She recently celebrated 13 years of being cancer-free. She keeps in touch with many of her Four Diamonds friends through social media and looks forward to their annual in-person reunion each February.
She plans to major in human development and family studies at Penn State and hopes to work with kids one day — just as the Four Diamonds staff worked to help her.
“It’s nice being able to give back to the organization that saved my life,” she says.
She says the younger generation of THON families are in good hands with the students volunteering for the organization today. Having been cancer-free for most of her life, she offers hope to families who are in the midst of a diagnosis or relapse.
“It’s definitely a great place to forget about everything you’re going through for a short weekend,” she says. “The students who volunteer are very dedicated to what they do. Families should never give up hope and take things one day at a time, and everything will work out the way it’s supposed to.”
Emily Whitehead
One of the most famous stories to come out of THON, the Whiteheads of Philipsburg have grown into ambassadors for raising awareness for pediatric-cancer research.
Emily Whitehead, 11, has been cancer-free for four years. She was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia during Memorial Day weekend in 2010 when she was 5 years old. After several relapses, she became the first child to receive T-cell treatment for leukemia in 2012.
Her story has appeared in the New York Times, Forbes magazine, and a Ken Burns documentary. She’s been recognized on the streets of New York City and met celebrities such as Lady Gaga and Katy Perry.
The Four Diamonds Foundation paid for much of her early treatment, and she remains close with her THON organization, the Public Relations Student Society of America.
Her parents, Tom and Kari, receive several phone calls each week from families whose children were recently diagnosed with cancer and are looking for ideas on how to cope.
“Another THON family just called me and said they had seen us at a lot of THON events but didn’t realize who we were, and their son is getting the T cells right now,” Tom Whitehead says. “We are getting several calls a week from new cancer patients.”
A frequent concern they hear from parents is they are worried about their children being around so many people in the middle of winter and getting sick as a result. The Whiteheads’ answer? Scary as the thought may seem, it’s well worth it.
“The doctors do everything in their power to discharge as many patients as possible for that weekend so they can make the trip to State College,” Tom Whitehead says. “The morale boost they get there is worth the risk.”
That boost can come from people such as Emily, who have beaten cancer. She remembers talking with another young girl who was battling the disease.
“I remember when I told Kaitlyn about her hair,” she says. “Kaitlyn had beautiful, blonde, curly hair and was worried about losing it. I told her I lost my hair, and she didn’t worry about it anymore.”
Emily received a new computer for Christmas so she could continue chronicling her journey on her blog, and the family is working with a production company on a full-length documentary about her journey.
“May 10 will be five years that I’m cancer-free so I am really looking forward to May 10!” Emily says.
The Whiteheads also started a foundation to spread awareness about pediatric T-cell therapy and provide assistance to families who are not supported by the Four Diamonds Foundation as they were.
“Everyone has gone over and above to support us,” Tom Whitehead says. “We have never seen the kind of support that Central Pennsylvania brought to her. We want to give back and give to other patients so all kids can come home healthy and happy.”
