Staying Energized at THON: ‘The Motivation Is Here’

The human body isn’t exactly optimized for 46 straight hours of consciousness — let alone 46 hours on your feet.

So how are the 708 dancers of the 2011 Penn State Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Council beating nature and maintaining their energy at the Jordan Center this weekend?

‘The only strategy I really have is to look forward to the meals and eat as much possible,’ said dancer John Sullivan, a senior from Yardley. He’s dancing for Delta Chi and Kappa Kappa Gamma with Michele Dougherty, a senior from Bucks County.

Beyond food — the first of 10 THON dancer meals was spaghetti, meatballs and salad — Sullivan energizes himself by talking with people and playing with THON kids on the dance floor, he said.

Dozens of children battling cancer attend THON, sometimes with their siblings. With squirt guns, beach balls, costumes and other toys, they play for hours with their college-age supporters.

‘Being with the kids, you realize why you’re here,’ Dougherty said. And she tries not to think about what time it might be, she said. (Technically, THON dancers aren’t supposed to keep track of the hours as they pass.)

‘Cancer can happen to anyone — no matter the age,’ Dougherty said. She has an aunt who’s fighting brain cancer, and a college friend who’s forcefully beating back leukemia, she said.

‘If (cancer patients) can go through with … radiation and chemo(therapy), I can stand on my feet for 46 hours,’ she said.

Billed as the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, THON has raised nearly $70 million in its more than three-decade history. Proceeds benefit the Four Diamonds Fund, which supports pediatric-cancer treatment and research.

‘Being here keeps my energy up,’ said Chantal Patane, a senior from Scranton and THON ‘moraler.’ ‘I don’t want to miss anything.’

Moralers are THON volunteers who help keep the dancers’ spirits up.

Drew Decarme, another volunteer, isn’t a moraler, per se, but he plays another vital volunteer role. He handles a lot of logistics for the Delta Chi and Kappa Kappa Gamma dancers.

He’ll be at the Jordan Center for most of THON this weekend. One of his strategies for staying energized? ‘Not to think about’ being tired, Decarme said.

‘It takes a lot of patience, too,’ said Decarme, a junior and information-sciences-and-techology major from Kennett Square.

But ‘the motivation is here,’ he went on. ‘It’s all about keeping the thought that you’re doing all of this for the kids.’

Related coverage

• The StateCollege.com THON page