Every day, 46 kids are diagnosed with cancer. Every day, cancer enters the lives and breaks the hearts of an unruly amount of people. With hopes of lessening this number and eventually bringing it down to 0, the University of Delaware hosts an event called UDance every spring. UDance is a 12 hour dance marathon in which participants raise money that goes towards childhood cancer research. Although the dancing goes on for 12 hours, the fundraising and planning of this event goes on year round. The overall reason for all of this dancing is to raise money that will help find a cure, but that is not the only reason we dance.
So, why do YOU dance?
Personally, I dance because I think 46 is way too high of a number. I dance because a young girl from a town near mine lost her life to cancer at the age of 14 and I saw just how many people’s lives were shattered because of it.
I dance because everyone deserves to have a childhood that is lived out to it’s fullest potential, not spent in various hospital rooms. I dance because no kid should ever have to hear the words “you have cancer.” The goal is to raise money to dedicate to research, but truthfully, UDance is about way more than that. It’s about remembering those who have lost the battle, to cheer on those who are battling, and to celebrate those who have won their fight.
The beautiful thing about UDance is that hundreds of people gather under one roof, and each person has a different personal reason as to why they dance. Perhaps, they lost a friend or a sibling to the disease, or maybe they fought the battle themselves and participate as a survivor. But one thing that every single one of those people has in common is this- they want to live in a world where cancer doesn’t exist.