THON providing hope to families fighting pediatric cancer

Yahoo

22-02-2025

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (WTAJ) — THON's 46-hour dance marathon provides many families an avenue of hope when it comes to financing their child's cancer expenses.
For the Hoglund family, being beneficiaries of the philanthropic event means even more.. David and Andrea Hoglund are alumni of Penn State University, with Andrea dancing in years prior when it was placed in Rec Hall.
Their son, Branson, was diagnosed with early Ewing's Sarcoma in his right tibia. They discovered the cancer after Branson was playing in the backyard with their dog, and a collision between the two caused a continuous limp in his leg.
After Hershey Medical Center saw some scans, they called the family in to deliver the bad news.
'It's very shocking to hear that in all the news that he has cancer,' David said.
Branson would go on to have multiple rounds of chemotherapy and an 11-and-a-half-hour surgery before ringing the bell on June 21, 2023. He spent nearly nine months in a wheelchair before progressing to forearm crutches. Now, he walks on his own.
Over their time in and out of hospitals, the Four Diamonds Foundation helped out with their expenses. These funds were raised through dancers like Drew Lojewski, who danced through Phi Beta Lambda, the organization sponsoring Branson during Thon.
'His life is fundamentally changed,' Lojewski said. 'He's been on a wheelchair team for years, and now he's finally able to walk again in a tent with us. That's truly special and working with such a great family like them. He's such a great kid and has such a great sense of humor.'
'Four Diamonds stepped in and they knew who to contact, how to fill out the forms, what to do and guided us along,' Andrea said. 'Plus, they give you vouchers for food because we lived at the hospital for almost a year. We didn't really, but we were there a lot, guys, because we were coming back and forth all the time. They step in and just handle everything.'
The relationship between Phi Beta Lambda and the Hoglund family has grown in the three years they have known each other. From Penn State Football tailgates to Mario Kart tournaments, their bond grows deep between the two parties.
'They write me all the time and check in, and they send birthday wishes or they send messages to him and, just all kinds of fun things,' Andrea added. 'But they're also just really caring and really willing to step in and be there for us and have supported us throughout. It's been great to see them as a whole bunch of older brothers and sisters now.'
Branson, an only child, now has multiple older siblings to have fun with at PBL.
'I feel like I suddenly have a whole bunch of college students that I'm the mom to now,' Andrea added.
'We want to see the direct impact we have on these families,' Lojewski said.
Stories like the Hoglunds' are just small data points of a much larger pool of stories other students dance for. The microcosms in each story all lead to one bigger idea to fight cancer for the kids, a message synonymous to dancers on the floor of the Bryce Jordan Center.
'Everybody comes together,' Owen Haddad, an independent THON dancer said. 'To me, when I think of 'We Are Penn State', this is one of the best examples of that.'
'It means the world that they're willing to give up their time and spend their effort so they could be studying, going out with friends, girlfriends or boyfriends,' Abby Clark, a THON Dancer for Atlas said. 'But they're spending that time working towards ending child cancer.'
After seeing THON from the philanthropist side of the event, positive karma has swung its way back around to help Andrea and her family.
'It was full circle in some ways,' she added. 'Not a circle we hoped to be in that. But if we have to be here, we are forever grateful that we had to do it with Four Diamonds.'
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