‘THON Weekend at Penn State University
FYI, this is the weekend of the Penn State Dance Marathon, the largest student-run fundraiser in the world. Proceeds (now in the millions each year) go to my all time favorite charity (FertileHope is a close second), the Four Diamonds Fund:
The Four Diamonds Fund is named after a story that Christopher Millard wrote shortly before he lost his battle with cancer at the age of 14. In Chris’ story, a knight must find the four diamonds of Courage, Wisdom, Honesty and Strength in order to be released from captivity by an evil sorceress. The four diamonds are symbolic of the traits Chris believed were necessary to overcome cancer.
I wish every children’s hospital had the benefit of a Four Diamonds Fund or something like it. Four Diamonds provided financial and emotional support to my family throughout my childhood cancer treatment and into my adult life. They connected us with other families and other resources and did everything they could to make us feel like we weren’t alone. Four Diamonds picked up the tab for much of the treatments that insurance wouldn’t cover, made sure my family could be together and focus on healing, rather than the stress escalating medical bills. Equally important, Four Diamonds reached out to my brother and my parents to make sure that they had people to talk to. There was a real understanding that a medical condition affects not just the patient, but their caregivers and their loved ones.
I wish that such a fund/foundation existed for me and others in my infertile situation now.
I wish that there were someone whose only job was to talk to infertility patients or couples (or singletons) who suspect they may have fertility issues and are just beginning the scary and seemingly never-ending game of “what’s wrong with me?” I wish there were someone in every clinic who was simply on call to answer questions, not about bills or treatments, but real ones, like “Do you think I should tell my boss?” “Do you know anyone else who is suffering from…..” I wish there were someone there like Trudy, the Four Diamonds Child Life Specialist was there for me.
I know that there are fabulous women out there trying to make this happen. Kami created a infertility support group in her local clinic. And there are blogger friends turning into real life friends and support circles across the nation. How do you go from something that is grassroots to something that is standard in every reputable infertility clinic? I wish I knew.
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In an outrageous stroke of luck, Michael and I were offered a weekend getaway at a bed and breakfast in a small town just outside of State College, Pa. for a writing assignment for a local paper. We are packing our bags and heading towards THON country right after I send this post. It’s been years since my last THON. As a kid, I used to go every single year, bald or not, and I loved hanging out with the college kids. I loved that me and my friends were the center of attention. I loved that our doctors were there too so our parents never worried too much and let us run absolutely wild through the gymnasium filled with sweaty, sleep-deprived, delirious students.
Now, I will be going with a slightly different perspective.
Tags: , cancer, Christopher Millard, Fertile Hope, fertility blog, Four Diamonds, Gabrielle Sedor, infertility, kids, Penn State, PSU, State College, support, THONRelated Stories
POSTED IN: advocacy, cancer, finances, infertility treatments, living with infertility
1 opinion for ‘THON Weekend at Penn State University
Big J
Feb 28, 2008 at 4:47 pm
I lived on State Street in the ambassador building above a Chinese building called Uncle Chen’s right on the campus of Penn State….
If I was still there I would have went..
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