Why Sam THONs

To be honest, when I first applied to be a part of THON I had no idea why I was doing it. It was difficult for me to relate to families with children with cancer because I didn't know any. I'm doing it For the Kids! That's what I thought. I had no idea what that meant, not really, not until I experienced my first THON, THON 2011.

I remember so many kids and happy faces, and so many amazing dancers who didn't give up. It was beyond inspiring. I was on the OPPerations committee my first year, and I spent a lot of time on the floor. I felt such a strong sense of gratitude towards these ridiculously headstrong people who chose to stand on the BJC floor for 46 straight hours to fight for a cure to pediatric cancer.  I can honestly say that I looked at the world, and my school, differently after that weekend. I had no idea how much power our generation had until the total went up and my weekend came to a close.

On the floor with my roommate, THON 2013

I was also on a committee my sophomore year, but after last year I was positive that I wanted to dance. I photographed for Valley Magazine. I met alumna who danced, dancers with sick siblings, parents, dancers in crutches. I met kids and parents of sick kids, and I watched the dancers with each passing hour. I photographed them as they opened their mail and at their difficult moments, but most times I was so inspired I could barely look away and focus on taking pictures. We go to a school filled with such influential people, and most of them walk by you every single day on your way to class or show up on your Facebook newsfeed. They are the bands and entertainment, the organizations, students, and clubs in the stands cheering on the dancers, they are the committees who literally run THON, they are the dancers.

Time has passed since THON 2011 and a lot has changed for me. Someone who I love more than anything, now has a four-year-old cousin with leukemia. I hate the way that something so terrible can change the way we look at life, the way it can make someone who I love and respect feel so much pain. And yet, if a beautiful four-year-old can fight death, so can we. And she is fighting hard.

In three short years I have experienced death in many different ways. I've experienced how it affects people that I love and admire, and how it's affected me. If there could be a way to stop the death of the beginning of a generation, to see the people we love live longer than they were ever supposed to, how amazing would that be? I get to be a part of the fight for that when I am a part of THON. Nothing beats an experience like that.

We dance for life.