By Savannah Singletary
Concordia University Chicago Dance Marathon (CUDM) just celebrated its three yearlong movement that support and benefit Children’s Miracle Network (CMN) Hospitals, more specifically, Lurie Children’s Hospital in downtown Chicago. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals are nonprofit organizations that raise funds and awareness for over 170 pediatric hospitals across the nation. This organization is the only children’s’ charity committed to having 100 percent of all the proceeds stay local to support local kids.
Since the beginning, dance marathons for this specific cause has raised more that $250 million.
These hospitals help kids across the nation fight battles some of us could never dream of. Every day, CMN Hospitals treat 16,200 kids with trauma, 935 kids with diabetes, 2,128 kids with cancer, 2,329 kids for surgeries and 925 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).
There are more kids entering a CMN hospital than there are seconds in a minute. Thirty-two million patients visits are provided for 10 million kids every year. One in ten kids in North America are treated by a CMN Hospital each year.
We, at Concordia, are lucky enough to know at least one kid. Matthew Erickson.
Two weeks before he was born, Matthew’s parents, Sue and Ben Erickson found out during an ultrasound session that the baby (Matthew) had excess fluid on the brain basically saying that the baby will have mental, or physical disabilities. It was later, a few days after he was born, that his diagnosis came; Matthew had developed brain cancer while in the womb.
Doctors told the family they had one of two options, enjoy what time you have left with him or to fight it with a low chance of survival.
“There was no other option for us,” Sue Erickson stated. “We’re going to fight.”
Multiple rounds of chemotherapy happened, along with countless number of blood samples drawn and brain surgeries.
Matthew reached his first birthday then his second. At the age of four he graduated to the survivors program at Lurie’s Hospital for kids with brain cancer. Now he just celebrated his seventh birthday in December.
“We have a lot of friends who would give anything, for one more sleepless night with thier,” Sue Erickson said thinking of other families they’ve befriended over the years of treatment, some of those kids did not survive. “We have tons of friends who give up give anything to have their kid around around the house, listen to one more Dad Joke, spilling a cup of water on the floor accidently.”
Students pledge to raise funds and awareness for patient families at local children’s hospitals over a span of a year with an 6+ hour event (the Dance Marathon), where the students get to meet patient families, participate in games/dancing and reveal the fundraising total at the very end.
As aforementioned, the first weekend in March, Concordia celebrated its third year participating in the dance marathon. Former student Allison “Allie” Back started this vision of Concordia joining in on this national phenom five years ago when she was a freshman.
In its first year, 36 people helped Back make her dream true. They raised $5,000. In the 2017 event year, 90 people participated to fund a total of $4,000 for the hospital.
Come March 2, 160 filled inside the North Gymnasium decorated in their respective team colors: green, purple, blue, orange, pink, and yellow.
Starting promptly at 6 p.m., we began the night for the kids (FTK), hearing Matthew’s story from his Mother and older sister. The spoke on the outpouring of love they felt from students like us doing fundraising for charities such as this one.
Every hour after six, there was a new theme. Second hour was Disney, while playing a live-action version of Hungry Hungry Hippos. The third hour was filled with Country music, and larger than life musical chairs. The fourth hour, was throwback hour; you had the opportunity to throw your friends in jail for an hour, or raise money for their bail. The fifth hour was all about Movie/TV trivia. One Direction, Troy Bolton, and Justin Bieber made an appearance during the lip sync battle.
Continuously throughout the night, all the attendees kept fundraising money. Every $25 raised meant you can provide everyday needs for patients: diapers, child-size hospital gowns, and pressure cuffs. Fifty dollars meant you can provide charity care for patients and families.
One hundred dollars raised allows children to understand and process their treatment plans, child life specialists use mock ORs to help kids understand upcoming treatment with play therapy, performing it together on a stuffed animal. Two hundred fifty dollars given means that specialized services like pet therapy can happen. Five hundred dollars raised contributes to vein illuminator assist with IV insertion making kids’ veins easier to find. Doubling that $500, $1,000 means that you can help patients get to the hospital; ambulance incubators allow even the tiniest of patients to be transported safely with the right life-saving equipment.
CUDM fundraised $20,058.05 total this year. Over five times as what was raised last year.
This year long process to fundraise, gather sponsors and excite others to join the movement is long and hard, but worth it in the end. Smiles like Matthew’s make it all worthwhile.
So will we CU at DM next year?
