(gentle piano music begins) (audience applauds) - [Narrator] Every February, it happens.

(audience cheers) The culmination of a year-round effort to raise money and awareness for children with cancer.

(gentle piano music continues) - Thank you.

Drive safe.

- [Narrator] The Penn State Dance Marathon, known as THON, works tirelessly for 12 months, all in support of The Four Diamonds Fund, whose goals is to provide emotional and financial support to families touched by childhood cancer.

(gentle piano music continues) Every February, there is a party, a celebration of life.

- Three, two, one.

(audience cheers) - [Narrator] For 46 hours, Penn State students stay on their feet while standing up for the kids.

(gentle piano music continues) Since 1977, the missions for THON and The Four Diamond Fund have been the same, to eradicate childhood cancer.

(gentle piano music continues) (audience cheering) Every February, it's starts all over again.

This is why we dance.

- [Announcer] Support for this program provided by Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and PepsiCo.

Additional funding provided by the Penn State Alumni Association and Penn State Bookstore, and by Viewers Like You.

Thank You.

- [Heather] We make it like home.

We bring his blanket, his pillow, pictures.

He likes to have the kids' pictures and there's a picture of all of us, so we just bring it all.

Instead of being in the hospital and feeling like a hospital, its a little bit of home.

- [Ian] He's an intelligent boy that he knows what cancer is, and he also knows that there're people who've beaten cancer.

And when he did get the diagnosis, and when we did explain to him what he has, he knew that it's something that he had to fight for and something that he has going to fight against.

And then again on the other side, being a 12-year-old boy, it was like, "You know, this sucks.

You know, I'm not being able to do what I want to do because of this silly disease."

(mellow music begins) - [Heather] It started last November.

He just started complaining about his left leg hurting.

- [Ian] Then that day when I was at work.

- It was January 30th, that was a Sunday.

He just came to me and said that he couldn't stand, it hurt to stand.

So I took him to the ER that afternoon.

- And then we found out on February 7th that I was diagnosed with periosteosarcoma.

- When she said that he might have a tumor in his leg, I kind of had that punch in the stomach feeling.

That day was just not a very good day.

A lot of thoughts were going through my mind.

I mean, what are we gonna do?

(mellow music continues) Am I gonna lose my son?

- The way I felt, it was now we know what it is.

Let's get going and start treating it.

- [Doctor] There probably is some evidence of some bony union occurring here.

- [Ian] When we went to the first appointment, we were assigned a social worker from Four Diamonds, which I thank God that was available to us.

- [Margaret] We meet with the family and first discuss Four Diamonds and we talk about how the basic goal of the Four Diamonds was to assist families to not think about medical bills, just to think about their child and their family.

- Where do you usually have pain, if you have pain?

- [Narrator] The Four Diamonds Fund offers financial support for every child being treated for cancer at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital.

- [Margaret] Whatever the insurance doesn't cover, the Four Diamonds will cover.

And so, the relief on their faces, it's amazing.

It really is.

- [Anne] And one of the incredible things is the process is so streamlined.

We never even saw bills in the mail.

It's not like we would get bills and then we'd have to mail them to someone else to pay for them.

- Or call and deal with the insurance company.

- [Anne] It's seamless.

It all just gets handled and you don't even have to give it a second thought.

You know someone is on top of it, taking care of it for you.

(gentle music) - In about 48 hours, we went from a having a healthy 7-year-old to a child where doctors told us you need to make memories now, 'cause she's probably not going to go very long.

Insurance covered most of her stuff.

Later on her treatment, when they did experimental stuff with her, that was not covered, so Four Diamonds covered that.

I don't think she would to live 5 years- - [Deanna] No.

- [Kevin] Without some of that treatment.

So Four Diamonds prolonged her life and gave us more time with her than we would have ordinarily.

(gentle music) - [Janice] Chris Millard was a young student, who back in the '70s, unfortunately was diagnosed with leukemia.

- [Charles] And six months before Chris died, he was in 8th grade and the teacher's assignment was to write an autobiography.

And he, after class, went up to her and said, "I'm not gonna write an autobiography.

I've been sick for 2 years and I've been in and out of hospitals.

I'm not going to write about that."

- [Janice] And so, in his wisdom, he wrote his story of the quest for the Four Diamonds.

And each of the diamonds was a symbol of an aspect of strength that he either was looking for for himself or that he had found in family members and people around him.

And his story, I get choked up when I think about it, his story has inspired so many people and has allowed other people to find their wisdom, their strength, their courage, and to move forward in their journey.

- It's become sort of a legacy, which I appreciate, which we appreciate, my wife and I.

But it was not our intention to glorify or to memorialize our son.

- [Kevin] When everyone in that Bryce Jordan Center holds up their hands as a diamond, that's a sign to Christopher, to thank him for everything that he did.

(energetic music) - [Kirsten] People vastly underestimate how much coordination is involved to do any of what we do.

And it's just thousands of students working all year long and learning all year long and growing as leaders.

- [Narrator] Less than a month after THON, a brand new overall committee is selected.

Each overall then selects a group of captains, which in turn selects committee members.

There are about 320 captains and 3,400 committee members.

When you add the students from 370 fundraising organizations, the total comes to more than 15,000 volunteers, making it the largest student-ran philanthropy in the world.

(energetic music) - [Victoria] This week is THONvelop distribution.

Basically, organizations and captains and committees can come in and pick up their THONvelops that they want to send out for the year.

Last week we sorted through all of them, we sorted through 500,000 THONvelops that they're all in stacks, it's easily distributed for this week.

We use them to solicit donations from our families, people we know from home.

(volunteers chattering) - THONvelops coming back look like this.

They have the organization name and number written on the back so when my committee members open them, they take out the donation inside and credit that organization, and then the check goes through the process, which is going on behind me now.

- We really don't set our goals for ourselves.

It's really just to see how ever much money we can raise and if we can raise $20 million, that's great.

If we can raise $2 million, that's great.

- [Chris] You put so much into really getting involved in the Penn State community that is THON, and now that we're actually doing something, we're actually making money for kids with cancer, it's surreal.

- Here you go.

- Thank you buddy.

- Penn State.

- Thank you.

- Penn State.

- Go State!

- Canning is when all the people involved in THON go out and stand outside in intersections, in front of businesses and stuff, and raise money and ask for donations.

- [Mairead] The guys from the recycling plant go to all of the dining halls and they collect these dirty, nasty cans all for us, which is awesome.

So we come here and there is about 2,000 pretty gross cans waiting for us to clean them.

- There's a good one.

That's an example of a good can.

- The peeling can be- - The peeling is a little... Getting them out of the bags that have been sealed for awhile... - Some of them are, you know.

- Tuna or a... - I'd say they get progressively better as you go down the line.

- The line, yes.

- Rinsers not as bad, the dryers got the golden job.

(cans clattering) - Currently, we have about 7,000 in storage.

Today, we're hoping to clean about 2,000 and next week we should clean another 2,000.

(volunteers chattering) - Thank you so much.

- Thank you so much.

- Have a great day.

- You too.

- Have fun.

- FTK!

(gentle triumphant music) - [Narrator] More than 7,000 students hit the streets with those cans.

(volunteers cheer) Collecting money in 9 different states.

- Thank you so much.

- You're welcome guys.

- Have a good day!

- [Elaine] It's a simple way to raise money.

You collect the spare change, it gives anyone the opportunity to be involved.

- You're gonna help kids fight cancer today.

No one likes loose change anyway.

It just slows your car down.

(whimsical music) We're here in Erie, beautiful Erie.

We're canning for THON.

I'm a member of Club Croquet.

This is our second year canning, so we're hoping to increase our total from last year and keep it going, keep building up the club.

Woo!

- [Robert] Club Croquet started in the summer of 2010 with six freshmen guys wanting to make an impact on Penn State.

We wanted something that's truly unique, something that hasn't been done before.

So we decided croquet, why not?

You know, we're a bunch of classy guys.

- Two, one, oh!

- [Robert] Well, you got to go all out.

We encourage funny clothes, as you can see, some of the guys aren't wearing sleeves.

Hopefully that will give us money with the lady drivers.

- I got you.

I got you in the dance moves, didn't I?

- [Michael] See, the great thing about THON is it doesn't matter what organization you are, anybody can do anything for THON.

Any organizations from fraternities and sororities, to club sports, to independent dancers raising money.

So, that's one of the things I really like about it; anybody can be involved.

(group chattering) - [John] We're just counting up today's totals.

We were out canning all day.

I got involved as a freshman and immediately fell in love with it.

Just the people that you're surrounded by, the cause that you're involved in.

It's truly unbelievable and it's really kind of defined my college experience at Penn State.

It's definitely been the best thing I've done through college.

(group chattering) - [Narrator] Since 1978, THON has raised more than $88 million for the Four Diamonds Fund.

Throughout the year, THON volunteers are given a chance to see where that money goes.

- [Barry] On the tours you have an opportunity to meet physicians and you have an opportunity to meet child life specialists and nurses and nutritionists and music therapists.

And the thing that strikes me is that those wouldn't be there without the Four Diamonds Fund.

(guitar music) - Let me hear you I really, really enjoy Penn State students coming through for their tours.

It's wonderful to get the chance to share with them where their effort is going to.

What I can hands-on provide to the children, to their families, because of the time and effort that each of the students is putting forth.

Hello buddy!

Are you ready for some major music?

In terms of pain management, if we're keeping the brain busy with the music, it can't receive the pain signals or the nausea signals as readily.

Oh, nice.

So there's physiological reasons, there's emotional, psychosocial reasons, all of those kind of come together as pieces of the puzzle to giving a whole treatment for the child.

(upbeat music) - [Dr. Miller] Part of every tour is also a visit to one of our research laboratories and one of our physician scientists will always speak to them about what we're doing in the labs and how their money is contributing to conquering childhood cancer.

A lot of human cell lines- - [Kirsten] The focus is very much on the support to the families, but we more than cover that at this point.

Now, we're making so many greater things happen and we are a part of the cure for cancer.

- [Doctor] How old was he when he was diagnosed?

- [Mother] 6 months.

- [Doctor] He was only 6 months old.

And how old are you now?

- [Matthew] 9.

- You're 9.

- [Mother] He's actually doing really well now.

He had fibrosarcoma in the chest.

- Hey Matthew, we are- - [Matthew] Penn State.

(all laugh) - All right!

- [Emily] I always heard that this money was going towards funding, these different things that aren't available for a lot of kids at different hospitals, such as the music therapist, as well as the child life specialist and different things like that.

But I never really knew what it meant until I got to kind of hear that person come in and talk about their story.

- [Andrew] When we do get bogged down, we have to sit down and think why are we doing this?

And you think back to today and what we saw and what kind of work they do and it just makes it so easy to do.

(children chattering) - [Judy] Of course it was very hard on the other two siblings, Olivia and Keegan.

All your attention, of course, is going to go to the child who needs all your love and care and attention because of what the poor child is going through.

So it was hard keeping the family close-knit and keeping the other two kids in the limelight, too, even though their thoughts at all times had to be what was going on with Bryce.

- [Lauren] As much has this has been a focus on Claire and her fight, it's also about her brothers, who have their own journey in all of this.

- [Kevin] And it's about making everyone feel special.

- Yeah.

- Not just the kids that are in that fight together, but the army that surrounds them, their siblings, their parents, their grandparents.

- [Barry] The Adopt-A-Family program allows student organizations that participate in THON to be specifically connected to a Four Diamonds family, if the family is interested in having that connection.

There are hundreds of those connections all the time.

And so, once they're paired, they just start doing whatever it is that they can do.

A lot of our families host the canning weekends, which is a great opportunity for our students to go spend a weekend with their Four Diamonds family and raise money.

It hits both elements of the mission, the emotional and financial support.

- Hello!

- Hey!

(family speaking indistinctly) - [Kevin] It's a party from the minute they come through the door.

The kids can't wait for them to be here.

- Our kids.

- Our kids, yeah, well.

I'd like to think they can't wait either.

(all cheering) - [Kevin] It's a release, I think, for the Penn State students because it's an opportunity for them to really connect with us.

It's a release for us in the sense that we get to do something for them, which they don't usually let us do.

And it's a release for the kids because Claire, Will, and Gabe now have 300 older brothers and sisters at Penn State and- - Who they can look up to.

- Who they can look up to.

- One, two, three.

(hands clap) (Lauren laughing) (playful music) - Ohanas are in town.

- We got to hang out with them at THON and Ty really missed them, so we invited them to come down and just have a nice day, cook out, do some fun stuff.

- Just because THON is one time a year doesn't mean that these families don't need our love and support throughout the entire year.

- Me and my roommate, Gee, we got these two big water guns 'cause they definitely beat us during THON weekend.

They won that battle.

So we decided to bring some extra weapons.

So we brought it because- Oh!

As you can see... (Omar screams) - [Anne] I didn't want THON to be something that Max felt was just for Charlie.

And it was very clear when we got there, that it wasn't, let's all pay attention to Charlie and Max stands in the corner.

It was Max, here is your gun.

Chase after me and shoot me.

And I just thought, "This is exactly what I wanted this experience to be for Max."

He has as much of a connection to these students as Charlie does.

And that's how you can tell that they embrace the whole family.

It's not just the child that is battling or has battled cancer; It's the entire family.

(gentle music) - [Announcer] that was a perfect strike.

(whimsical music) (crowd chattering) (crowd cheering) - [Kirsten] We like to have things throughout the year, not just THON weekend, because cancer doesn't stop, so we don't stop.

And it's a good way to always be there for them and kind of give it a distraction for everything else is going on in their lives.

- Sometimes you feel that you are alone and the reason why we're here is so they know that they're not alone in this fight.

- Yeah, you make a left.

- All right, cool.

- [Tammy] We keep coming back to support Penn State.

If it weren't for them and the money that these kids raise every year, my kid may not be five years off treatment.

My kid may not be deemed cured if it weren't for what these Penn State students do.

(crowd cheers) - It's amazing coming here every year and you see families that you've seen every year and you see their kids doing well and thriving and growing and it's-- - [Shane] Growing up, yeah.

- [Cynthia] It's amazing.

It's great.

- It's a yearlong effort and we truly mean that.

Students are constantly taking trips to go down to Hershey and to see the families and support them.

- [Jennifer] Tyler really looks forward to when the college kids come.

- I'm kidding.

It's the first thing, like we check in at the front desk, he runs back to the play room to see if they're here 'cause the Penn State kids, they entertain him, they do crafts with him, or play games with him, and it just kind of makes the time go a little faster.

- [Andrea] These appointments aren't just like, you come in, you come out.

It could be a multiple day thing.

Our friend Tyler in there said he's going to be here for the next few days, and so having us around to play with him, keep him entertained, takes a little break off the parents and gives him something fun to do.

- And this says a lot about the Penn State students too, I think, you know, how dedicated and caring they are, and wanting to really get to know the kids and the families.

It's a great experience for everybody, I think.

- You won.

You're sneaky.

I didn't- Ah, so sneaky.

- It's kind of cool.

This is a kid that you're helping when you're standing on the corner.

Just like, kids like Tyler in there.

You hang out with them and then it makes you want to work even more because it's like, hopefully one day, he'll be able to be healthy and then nobody will have to come here at all.

(train rumbles) (gentle guitar music) - [Narrator] Inspired by the Penn State dance marathon, mini-THONs started popping up around Pennsylvania in 1994.

High schools, middle schools, even elementary schools put on their own dance marathons to collect money for the Four Diamonds Fund.

(children cheering) (gentle music continues) - Last year there were about 60 mini-THONs throughout Pennsylvania, raising about $1.3 million.

(upbeat music) This year there are 83 mini-THONs.

At the end of the day, this is not Penn State thing.

This is about children with cancer.

It's not a Hershey thing.

It's not a Penn State thing.

It's not a THON.

It's not Four Diamonds.

That's the difference that you want to make.

- [Megan] What's really great is we're fostering this sort of Four Diamonds mindset in kids as young as 4th grade, which is amazing to us as Penn State students to see these kids so enthusiastic and really understanding what we're here about.

(children cheering) (somber music) - Our daughter passed away from cancer when she was a student at this school and that's why we wanted to start one here at this school, to honor her and another student that was a 7th grader here that passed away.

- [Vicki] I just think it's really important.

These kids knew Brandon and it's such a great philanthropic thing for them to do, which I think it's really good to teach them now how to care about other people other than themselves.

- [Kevin] I want them to realize that they should be fighting to cure cancer 'cause someday they'll have kids and I don't want their kids to have cancer and have them go through what we went through.

(somber music) - [John] All too often, teenagers tend not to think about other people.

They tend to think more of themselves and this event is really one in which really forces them to look beyond their own individual world and it really makes them more compassionate and really better people in the end.

(somber music) (crowd cheering) - [Alyssa] To me, the greatest Penn State tradition is Dance Marathon.

And to dance, that is the pinnacle.

(energetic music) - [Narrator] Thousands of students compete to be one of 700 dancers who will stand for 46 hours.

Each organization involved in THON is allocated a certain number of dancers, based on their fundraising efforts.

- There's also the chance for students to get involved who may not be a part of an organization by trying to independently dance.

- [Mairead] All the independent dancer couples who are attempting a dance for THON 2012 are coming here.

They're gonna visit with finance first, where they'll verify their totals, make sure everything is kind of completely up to date, 'cause this really matters for them.

- Did you get that $200 online donation?

- [Mairead] To become an independent dancer, you have to be entered into a dancer lottery.

So for $2,600, you get your one ticket in the lottery and then after that, it's every $500 gives you an additional ticket.

(crowd chattering) - We're definitely nervous.

It's been to such a long year, but we're hoping it pays off.

- It's been really stressful.

So, I mean, I think the hard work is going to pay off.

- It's been building and building apprehension and excitedness at the same time 'cause you're really hoping that- 'Cause it still is a lottery, so we're actually, still just hoping.

I guess crossing our fingers that we get picked.

Hey Mom?

We ended out being $171 off of our next lottery ticket.

So I just ended up calling my parents and basically begging them to (Josh laughs) fill us in on that last little bit.

It's $171.

Yeah $171.

Yes!

Thank you so much.

- We have your total as $10,215.31.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

- Not many people can say they raised $10,000.

- It's going to be nice to know that we are able to contribute so much and be a part of it even though if we weren't able to dance, it'd be awesome to know just that we were able to help even a little bit.

(dancers chanting) - [Narrator] Each year, a group of morale captains creates a new line dance.

This dance will be performed every hour during THON weekend.

♪ FTK THON will cheer ♪ - It's really amazing to know that you're creating a dance that 15,000 people are going to be doing at once.

(crowd cheers) - [Narrator] A few days before THON, the new line dance is performed in front of the morale committee members for the first time.

(crowd cheers) - [Shannon] The line dance really starts building up the excitement of the weekend and this really creates a sense of bonding among the THON community.

It's something that they all can share and they know and it's really exciting because they all get share it with the dancers who are not aware of it before THON weekend.

So lunge out to the right with your hands on your hips.

The dance is obviously something fun for everyone to do and it does have lot of cool pop cultural references.

But the main purpose of it is to stretch the dancers out all weekend, 'cause towards the end, you can kind of forget to stretch.

THON is so close, it's only a couple of days away, so it's really a great way for everyone to come together and learn something special that will be hallmark of THON 2012 for years to come.

(dancers chanting) (gentle music) - THON has had such a positive impact on me that I can't imagine not having it there.

Like we've been in these positions now for almost a year.

So it's kind of hard to imagine my life not- - It's just, when you plan for something for this long, it's hard to imagine it actually happening.

- [Gen] It's not real at all.

- [Kinjal] I'll wake up tomorrow and be like, "Well, it's time to go."

(gentle music) (guests chattering) - [Woman] Happy THON.

- [Woman 2] We're here.

THON can start now.

- [Anuj] The overall committee got here at 4:30.

We all went in together and then very shortly after the rules and regs captains, technology, OPP, they all started coming in.

So right around 4:30 a.m. is when the show starts for us.

- THON uses every aspect in every room of the Bryce Jordan Center.

(upbeat music) Beginning of THON we used the truck ways, obviously, to bring in our supplies, but then they're transformed into storage units where dancers can bring their belongings.

(upbeat music) - [Anuj] Right now they're setting up the stage, all the lighting.

The sound equipment is coming in with entertainment.

OPP committee members are setting up the mats and simultaneously blowing about 2,400 balloons up.

(upbeat music) - [Will] If you're on the event level floor, and you leave the event level, there's a lot of things your going to see.

We have the axillary gym, the south annex as we like to call it.

This is normally used for just practices by the basketball team, but we transformed it and use these two spaces.

We split the gym in half and half of it is used for storage for our dancers.

But on the other side, the families, that's the place where they can hang out.

They're served meals by hospitality and then they have a lot different events or maybe they might hangout with athletes or prepare for big family event.

The second level is the mezzanine, which is a little bit more quiet.

So in this area, our captains will be using conference rooms as sleep shifts.

So our captains receive two four-hours sleep shifts throughout the weekend.

And then this side is the family area.

This is a little bit more quiet where families can go away from chaos of THON weekend.

- And then upstairs on the concourse level, we have technology doing all the radios and R&R is getting setup with security.

- [Will] It's pretty cool 'cause I always think about, as you walk around the concourse, you get to see a little glimpse through each portal of THON weekend and you're just overwhelmed with the amount of color, the amount of people, and it is just one of this awe moments where you just can't help but not speak, but look around and just see the magic that is THON.

(calm music) (crowd cheering) - We've seen people lining up since probably 8:00 a.m. this morning.

It's really important for everyone to get the best spots so they can really support their dancers.

- [Crowd] FTK!

FTK!

- [Cristina] Hopefully the kids will have a great time and enjoy it just as much as we do.

(attendees cheering) (gentle music) - [John] Feeling nervous, anxious, excited.

I don't know.

I've never done anything this physically demanding before.

So it's a little nerve-wracking.

(crowd cheers) - [Robbie] When you see that kid shooting you with a squirt gun, it's kind of like you can't sit down; you're standing for them.

- They deal with so much more that the pains we're going to suffer this weekend aren't even going to matter, you know.

You gotta keep going for them.

(crowd cheering) - [Karen] I'm just so pumped up to be dancing.

And especially running through the human tunnel, everything like that has already been overwhelming, so I'm just pumped up for a great weekend.

- I think my face already hurts from smiling like, you know, we're not even started yet.

- Too much smiling.

(upbeat music) - It's crazy.

I woke up this morning and I was like, "Wow!

All of our work and dedication and everything is going to payoff today.

- [Host] Now Penn State, I have one question for you.

Are you ready to take a stand and beat out cancer?

(crowd cheers) Let's do this!

10, nine, eight, seven six, five, four three, two, one, stand!

(crowd cheering) (High energy music begins) ♪ I throw my hands up in the air sometimes ♪ ♪ Saying ayo ♪ ♪ Gotta let go ♪ ♪ I wanna celebrate and live my life ♪ ♪ Saying ayo ♪ ♪ Baby, let's go ♪ ♪ I came to dance, dance, dance, dance, dance ♪ ♪ I hit the floor ♪ ♪ 'cause that's my plans, plans, plans, plans ♪ ♪ I'm wearing all my favorite brands, brands, brands, brands ♪ ♪ Give me some space for both my hands, hands, hands, hands ♪ ♪ Yeah, yeah ♪ ♪ 'Cause it goes on and on and on ♪ ♪ And it goes on and on and on ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ (people chattering) - [Narrator] In 2006, Four Diamonds dad Hank Angus had an idea.

- We came up with the idea of actually bringing letters from Four Diamonds families to the dancers.

We wanted to connect the reason to the dance.

- [Narrator] 24 hours before THON starts, the Hope Express embarks on a 135-mile relay run that goes from the Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital all the way to State College.

- [Hank] To be a part of the Hope Express, you have to be a THON alumni or you have to be a Four Diamonds child or part of a Four Diamonds family.

- [Mike] As a Four Diamonds dad, it gave me the opportunity to channel my hopes, my fears, for my son.

It's a great outlet.

(cheerleaders cheering) (upbeat music) - [Alli] I think it's supposed to be 11:00-ish between midnight, around that time, will be my first 3 mile leg.

Then I'll run another one around 4:00 in the morning, and then another one, hopefully, assuming we do really well and there's no crazy weather, hopefully, around noon the next day.

(uplifting music) (crowd cheering) - [Mike] And so, the starting and stopping, the up all night, the weather, the mountains.

When you factor all that in, it's like no other race.

There's no way to train for this.

It's about heart.

(uplifting music) And you can condition yourself, but it's about heart, and that's what it boils down to and all these people have heart.

(uplifting music) - This year, THON is once again donating all of the hair collected here today to Wigs For Kids.

This organization handcrafts each hair prostheses made of about 150,000 strands of natural hair.

- I decided to donate it 'cause I was playing with a child on the floor last year and she was playing with my hair and talking about how much she loved it and how she wished she could have hair like that.

- [Crowd] Three, two, one!

(crowd cheers) - For me, I know how special my hair is to me and how I think it just can make a girl feel special and pretty, so for anyone who didn't have that opportunity, I want to be able to give it to them.

- [Elle] I think knowing that some other little girl is going to have my hair is great.

It's nice that I can spread the love, I guess.

(uplifting music) - [Kirsten] The most impressive part is organizing so many people and there's people that run everything from security to cleaning the bathrooms and helping with press and running lost and found booths and info booths and everything that goes into it, it truly is a year in the making and we couldn't do it without every single individual volunteer.

- [MacKenzie] Rules and regulations controls and regulates everything that THON is.

They are security and they're also a safety team to make sure everything run smoothly.

- [Juan] There's 46 hours, 700 plus dancers.

They all need to be refueled with water, constant Gatorade, food.

It's not just the dancers though, it's also the families, captains, pretty much anyone that's involved will need to have food and water at the same time.

It's pretty much providing, refueling for everyone.

(energetic music) - This is Andrew (both laugh) Anna McAndrews, I'll get this.

This is Anna McAndrew, the best moraler in THON and she's helping me loosen up because I'm really tight from standing for, I have no idea how many hours so far.

Does it feel better to be outside?

- No - [John] Do you want to go back in?

Staying on your feet for 46 hours is real hard.

So we're doing everything in our power to make sure to put them in a position to be successful.

- [Eric] This is one of the busiest times of the entire weekend.

But at the same time, we've got it under control.

All the committees are doing everything possible to adjust to the size of the crowds.

Everything is on schedule, so it seems like it's going really well.

(kid squeals) (somber music) (families chattering) - This is my 21st THON, so the Akroyd family.

- Good for you.

- What family is yours?

- The Akroyd family.

- Yes, of course.

(families chatter) - [Savannah] Most families approach THON as a healing process after the loss of their child.

(somber music) And I think that we do an amazing job here , being able to have THON as a healing process.

- There is no place other than THON that is as close as we can get to our daughter as we can.

She loved THON.

This is where she is.

- [Deanna] And we also think the kids that are dancing need to know that they need to keep dancing.

Because they need to keep fighting 'cause there shouldn't be a roomful of people that lost kids.

(somber music) - I THON for my brother, Jed.

He was diagnosed at age 4 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

And he passed away at January 3rd, 2010 after 8 years of battling his cancer.

And I carry his smile and his memory with me everyday.

I'm supposed to do this and I'm supposed to be able to give back and I'm blessed, I think.

- It brings everyone back and gives them their own feeling of unity that you still do have a place in this environment, and it helps you go on.

- But her ultimate wish was to come to THON, so that's why we decided when she passed away in November of 2010 that we were determined, we were going to fulfill her wish and come.

And as you see now, we're back for the second year because she was here.

- [Savannah] No matter what stage of the process they're in, whether they have just lost their child, whether they know they're going to lose their child, or whether it's been 20 years, they know that the support that they get here, they can't get anywhere else.

And this is a place that their children are with them.

So I think it's an incredible experience.

(energetic music) - [Charles] There is so much energy spinning in that building and it's just spectacular.

Every time I go in there and see this mass of people.

- [Heather] It's truly amazing.

I mean it's something that you can't put into words until you get here and just to be down on the floor for the first time and to walk in, I had goose bumps.

- Everybody's been open, loving, welcoming.

It's just been a tremendous, tremendous experience so far.

(upbeat music) - Our first THON was a celebration.

Charlie just got off treatment, so we were celebrating and for us as a family, it was neat to have a party with 18,000 people.

We get to celebrate every year right now.

- [Lauren] Just as the Penn State kids are our children's motivator all year long, during those three days, we see it as our job as a family and Claire's job as a pediatric cancer survivor and a Four Diamonds kid to be motivator of the Penn State kids.

(mellow music) - [Erin] I'm looking forward to it being over.

I'm in a lot of foot pain and I just want to sit and sleep and shower.

- It's just the feet really.

They hurt pretty much anyway I stand.

- All of a sudden outta nowhere, my feet felt better and my eyes just keep wanting to shut.

(mellow music) - [Jackie] This is probably the best I've felt in the past at least 12 hours.

I heard that it might be a bad idea because it feels really good then it's like hurt after, but like for the time being, it is worth it.

(mellow music) I don't want this weekend to end.

As crazy as I want the pain to go away, this is like a once in lifetime thing.

So, I don't know, I wanted to be here as long as possible.

- [Erin] I like watching especially the younger kids and to see what a good time that they can have, despite their situation.

I know if they can get through that, there's no reason I should quit.

- Oh, I can't wait to sit down.

I'm looking forward to mail call, which I know is soon.

- [Volunteer] Lights, camera, mail call.

(energetic music) - This is often a time where dancers are struggling a lot.

So a lot of this mail is a lot of inspiration, a lot of games and toys, and fun things for them to do, a lot of entertainment.

So, when they got this, it's a really uplifting thing for them.

Really gets them through the rest of the weekend.

- Aw, that's so sweet.

- Well, I just got one from my roommate.

He wrote me the nicest letter saying how much he knows it means to me and how much I mean to him, and it was just so nice to hear.

- This is from Julie and she made me a book... - There's never been a time in these 46 hours or however many its been at this point that it hasn't been an absolute joy.

(peaceful music) - [Tom] When we went to THON last year, it was one of the best weekends of our lives and it's made it that much tougher to be down here this year.

Is that too tight?

- Is that comfortable?

- All right!

This has been one of the hardest things that cancer has taken away from us, not being at THON this weekend.

(family chattering) - [Ashley] We're having a party with the Four Diamonds families for the THON total reveal.

These children weren't able to make it to THON this year, so we just kind of are giving them an experience with the Penn State students, just like the children that are at THON get.

- Yeah.

- Yeah, you like that?

- [Ashley] I feel like I'm getting an experience that not a lot of people get to get.

There're thousands of students in the Bryce Jordan Center, but there's only 10 of us here, so it's kind of a really unique experience that we get to have one-on-one time with these kids that we work so hard to help every year.

- [Tom] Through the night last night, Emily had severe pain and just because the finale is now and everybody has shown up at the hospital again, Emily is up and functioning normal and laughing and having a good time now.

We finished off THON last year with Emily on my shoulders.

Any time we do anything with THON, it takes the cancer away for a while.

(Tom chuckles) Emily has grown.

(crowd applauds) - [Host] The Jenae Holmes family.

(crowd cheers) The Tyler Truex family.

(crowd cheers) The Tucker Haas family.

(crowd cheers) The Lexie Barnett family.

(somber music) - [Kirsten] One of the most emotional points is definitely Family Hour.

You watch a video about the kids that are no longer with us.

I think that's just like a stab in the heart 'cause this is why we do it, it's because it takes those kids from this earth and from their families.

And Penn State becomes a family for these families.

- [Host] Please welcome Heather and the Bryce Carter family.

(crowd cheers) - [Kirsten] You don't do THON for yourself.

You do it for these families.

- And this is Bryce, the strongest, most courageous and determined 13-year-old we know.

- [Kirsten] And to hear the raw emotion and the pain, it's kind of a roller coaster, but it's a good thing to be sad too because that fuels your passion.

That's why you do this because it really is hard and it's not fair and it's something that you want to change.

- We have been so incredibly blessed to have all of your support and to become a part of our family.

Your love and support is truly amazing.

Thank you.

(crowd applauds) - Hello everybody.

I'm Vinny and this is my sister Ashley, who is holding a picture of our middle sister, Lauren.

Back in 1994, Lauren began to feel sick.

She was eventually diagnosed with leukemia.

Lauren was only 7 years old at the time of her diagnosis.

Lauren loved THON just as much as she loved Christmas.

It was all she talked about.

She would even ask my mom on random weekends, "Hey mom, can we go to THON this weekend?"

And it would be in like July.

(crowd laughs) And for all the hours that I've been here this weekend dancing in her memory, I have never felt closer to Lauren.

Like she is standing here right next to me.

And I thank you, Penn State, from the bottom of my heart for everything you have done for my family and all these families standing here in front of me.

Thank you so much.

(crowd applauds) Dancing this weekend in her memory has been almost like a dream come true.

It has changed my life.

This weekend has changed my life.

(mellow music) - Thank you, Penn State, for all your hard work for the last four years.

You helped save my son's life.

(crowd cheers) Charlie is 15 months cancer-free.

(crowd cheers) When the urologist looked at us and said, "Folks, it's not good.

There's a high probability that your son has rhabdomyosarcoma."

"Sarcoma, cancer?"

"Yes, Mr.

Beecher."

Those word will forever echo in my mind.

And then we saw a flicker of light on our path, Four Diamonds.

And one thing was made very clear, that weren't going to have to worry about the cost of treatment and we could put all of our energy and all of our focus and all of our effort into getting Charlie better.

(crowd applauds) Penn State Hershey Medical Center and Four Diamonds have all the heavy artillery.

Right now, join me, use all your love, raise your foam swords, raise your diamonds, raise your water guns, and let's march on like Charlie to beat cancer!

We are!

- [Crowd] Penn State!

- We are!

- [Crowd] Penn State!

- We are!

- [Crowd] Penn State!

- Thank you!

- [Crowd] You're welcome!

(crowd cheering) - [Announcer] Morale captains to the stage.

Last line dance, you did it.

(upbeat music) ♪ Cancer, we'll fight it ♪ ♪ Dancing, united ♪ ♪ Penn State, break it down, diamonds up, all around ♪ - [Elaine] We're about to calculate the THON 2012 total.

I just don't know how the weekend went by so fast, but, I know that the feelings from this weekend and this entire year are gonna be with me forever.

♪ Penn State, break it down, diamonds up, all around ♪ ♪ Shine your light, win this fight, FTK ♪ - All right, so just you know on the left part of my- - Oh wait, but it's going to go, oh, right?

- No, we just all press enter.

- Ew, okay, do we say one, two, three?

- One, two, three.

(all screaming) - Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.

(all crying) - THON never ceases to amaze me.

It just doesn't.

- It's magic.

- [Elaine] I think through everything that happened this year, the one thing our entire THON community has done is believe and this shows that we believe.

- Is this real?

♪ Four Diamonds light the night ♪ ♪ Making every journey bright ♪ (crowd cheers) - [Host] All right dancers, are you ready to sit?

(crowd cheers) 10, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, sit down!

(crowd screaming) - All right, Penn State.

And the total for THON 2012 Brighten Every Journey is... (crowd chattering) - Here we go, here we go.

- Come on, come on, come on baby.

(crowd screaming) $10,686,924.83.

(gentle music) - [Charles] I read some place, those things that we do for ourselves alone die with us.

Those that we do for others and humanity live on and become immortal.

(uplifting music) In the beginning when people would say, "Isn't it great what you- Don't you feel great what you've done?"

I said, "I didn't do it.

Thousands of people did it.

Penn State students did it.

Mini-THON students are doing it.

There are so many people out there that did it."

Before Chris died, he said, "If I die..." And he'd knew he was not in a good situation.

He said, "If I die, I wanna come back as a wizard and make people well."

And I tell the Penn State students, "You're bringing his wish to reality by doing what you're doing."

(gentle music) (crowd applauds) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Find more information about the Four Diamonds Fund and THON at fourdiamonds.org.

Support for this program provided by Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital and PepsiCo.

Additional funding provided by The Penn State Alumni Association and Penn State Bookstore, and by Viewers Like You.

Thank You.

(bright music)