At age 16, most guys are worried about getting their driver’s license or making the football team, but Evan Maede was getting ready to worry about something far more important: survival.
At BSU Dance Marathon on Saturday, Maede told his story of how he went to his doctor for what he thought was the flu, but after some blood work, was rushed to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was diagnosed with Leukemia, a disease that was in 97 percent of his bloodstream.
“I just had tears pouring down my face,” said Maede, a Butler University freshman. “And I looked to my left [at my parents] and they had tears pouring down their faces too, and that was when I knew they couldn’t tell me that everything would be all right.”
Maede needed more than his parents’ help — he needed help at Riley Hospital for Children, where he was treated.
Maede, who is now in remission, was the last person to tell his story before the event concluded at 2 a.m. Sunday. Shortly after he spoke, it was announced that BSU Dance Marathon raised $196,228.20 for Riley Children’s Hospital. Participation nearly doubled this year, with 1,316 students involved, compared to 719 last year.
“What you did here today will save lives,” Maede said. “If it wasn’t for people like you I would not be standing here today.”
The money raised will go toward palliative care and Magic Castle Cart, said Alex Donaldson, media director for BSU Dance Marathon. Palliative care focuses on helping children and families with life-threatening illnesses, and Magic Castle Cart delivers smiles and toys, or “Smile Therapy.”
Although there were several activities and competitions throughout the day, the event was all about one thing.
“For the kids, all day,” Luke Cathcart, a sophomore pre-business major, said. “Little kids are the future. If that was me or my child, I would want someone to stand for me.”
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Sophomore nursing major Caitlynn Edon had a more personal reason to attend Dance Marathon.
Edon’s 1-year-old niece has cystic fibrosis and has been to Riley Hospital for Children.
“Children mean so much because they haven’t even had a chance yet,” Edon said. “They don’t even know what it is like to live without a disease.”
Hayley Terrell, a senior Spanish major, said she attended Dance Marathon because her sorority, Epsilon Sigma Alpha, had previously traveled to St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and interacted with the children there.
“People from all over coming together to save lives is just wonderful,” Terrell said.
Junior architecture major Matt Jennings has participated in Dance Marathon every year since he was a freshman year and has been impressed by its growth and support.
“It essentially gets their stories out there,” Jennings said. “It’s just a nice touch to see what you are striving for.”
Jennings said his fraternity, Lambda Chi Alpha, chose to sponsor a child like many other organizations. They were able to spend the night making it special for their child.
Freshman telecommunications major Jessika Zachary said her favorite part was when she crowd surfed during the rave near the end of the night, because everyone joined together through dance and remembered why they were there.
“It just shows that anyone can do anything if they want to, like just standing up for 12 hours or like what [the Riley Children] did, fight a life threatening disease,” Zachary said. “If they are strong enough to survive what they did, it’s really no problem to do this for them.”
