More than 700 official dancers got on their feet at 6 p.m. Friday in the Bryce Jordan Center to kick off the 52nd THON, a weekend-long culmination and celebration of year-round efforts by Penn State students to raise funds and provide emotional support for pediatric cancer patients and their families.
Come 4 p.m. on Sunday when the no-sitting, no-sleeping dance marathon ends, the final total for annual fundraising in support of the Four Diamonds at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital will be revealed. And though it now raises millions each year — topping a record $15 million in 2023 — THON weekend and the efforts that lead to it have grown to mean much more than a dollar figure announced on a Sunday afternoon in February.
“Our fundraising began on July 1 and we are so excited to see what our results will be this weekend, but ultimately we are grateful for every dollar that has gone toward the fight against childhood cancer,” said Maddie Fisher, THON 2024’s public relations director and one of more than 16,500 volunteers who participate in the world’s largest student-run philanthropy.
Since Four Diamonds became its sole beneficiary in 1977, THON has raised more than $219 million — money that has ensured 4,800 families and counting have not received a medical bill for their child’s cancer treatment at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital.
It’s also helped provide for comprehensive care and services that support both patient and family.
“Four Diamonds is able to wrap around services to the entire family, because we know that childhood cancer doesn’t happen just to a child,” said Suzanne Graney, Four Diamonds’ executive director since 2010. “It happens to the entire family.”
Thanks to THON and Four Diamonds, the hospital is able to provide a wide range of services such as child life specialists, art and music therapy, clinical nutrition, psychology and family social programs. In recent years, the support has enabled the creation of a survivorship clinic, one of only a few in the nation, to provide a personalized plan of care for each child, genetic testing and counseling and mentoring programs to provide support for parents.
Services like these simply weren’t available in 1972 when Charles and Irma Millard founded Four Diamonds to assist pediatric cancer patients and their families, The Millards created the organization in honor of their son Christopher, who died after being diagnosed with cancer at the age of 11.
“Back when Chris was sick and he died, there was nothing,” said Stacia Millard Bird, Christopher’s sister who carries on the family’s legacy of support for THON and Four Diamonds. “We were on our own. There was no family support. It was awful. It was really hard, and you had to go through your own process to come out on the other side of that. So it’s wonderful to see how it is everybody. It’s not just the kid who is going through that, which is terrible, but it affects the whole family. So it’s wonderful to see that we’ve been able to provide that kind of support.”
THON’s fundraising has also provided support for the pediatric cancer research enterprise at the Penn State College of Medicine, as well as programs to fund care providers and fellowships training the next generation of pediatric oncologists.
“We’re supporting the work of several labs at Penn State College of Medicine, making it possible for us to look for new ways to treat childhood cancer, less toxic ways to treat childhood cancer, again with the goal of making it possible for every child to be able to survive and thrive in their life after cancer,” Graney said.
‘More Than Just a Weekend in February’
Fundraising is “first and foremost what we do,” THON 2024 Executive Director Will Vincent said, and it is critical to lifting a major burden when families receive a devastating diagnosis.
But THON has also grown to encompass numerous events, big and small, that bring families and students together. There’s a 5k, a 100 Days ‘Til THON celebration and a family carnival. Student organizations are paired with families and form close bonds over years of spending time together on visits, at tailgates, at Little League games and much more.
It’s fitting, then, that THON’s 2024 theme is “Treasure Every Adventure.”
“Things like that are not going to be in the number that goes up at the end of the weekend,” Vincent, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student, said. “Those experiences, those memories that they cherish, those are not going to be represented in whatever that figure is. Obviously, we are very proud of what we are able to provide financially, but all year long the support, the experiences, the memories, all of that is to support our families and that’s a big part of our mission — that emotional support, and being sure they know they are supported, they have this entire community behind them.
“They’re going through treatment, they’re going through that battle, but they have a community of 16,500 volunteers here in State College in their corner fighting for them every step of the way. Those experiences are really reminders of that.”
It all comes together with a culminating celebration on THON Weekend, itself a massive endeavor that has become a cornerstone event at Penn State with its own rituals and traditions. It has grown exponentially from its origins in the old HUB Ballroom, moving to the White Building and Rec Hall before finding its current home in the 15,000-seat Bryce Jordan Center.
Student volunteers plan out all the complex details and then “are working tirelessly” throughout the weekend, Vincent said, to provide an event that not only brings attention to THON’s mission, but more importantly joy to children and families who are going through a tough battle.
“I’m always so proud when we get to this moment and we’re getting ready to launch the weekend, knowing how much work it took to get here and how much it means to the kids and the families,” Graney said. “There are literally thousands of people standing behind them, cheering them on, helping them to make sure that they’re able to get through a cancer fight, that they’re not alone as they go through this, and that they have these extraordinary leaders to look up to and to emulate.
“They get to come here and let their hair down and be kids. Or maybe they don’t have hair. They just get to be here and forget about having cancer. They get to just play and have a good time. That’s the experience these students work so hard all year to make happen for these families. There’s so much love and hope and spirit in this building, and they created it.”
Generations of Penn State students have made THON and the work of Four Diamonds successful, and its reach now spans the globe, with alumni and donors throughout the world.
And it just keeps getting “better and better and better,” Bird said.
“It’s an honor for me to be able to come here every year to feel the energy,” she said. “It’s like home for me. Both my dad and my brother hang out here for sure.”
Charles Millard passed away in 2021, leaving Stacia to carry on the family’s involvement in the charity her parents created and the student organization that has helped it to thrive.
“Dad used to talk about it was really THON that breathed life into Four Diamonds and continues to,” she said. “You don’t ever plan on having a family legacy, and in some ways you wish you didn’t have to, but to have something like this and see the impact that it has had and continues to have is mind boggling. It’s very humbling and makes you feel super wonderful inside too.
“It means a lot for us that Chris’s short life and his death has resulted in something so impactful. It makes it in some ways easier to see that.”
