Despite having to reschedule DanceBlue from the previous Sunday due to the threat of dangerous winter weather, over 250 high school students and 30 volunteers from the University of Kentucky (UK) filled the Apollo High School gym Sunday night to heat up the dance floor in the name of fighting pediatric cancer.
In its sixth year, the Apollo DanceBlue seven-hour mini-marathon featured theme-driven dancing, games and activities each hour that students from the DanceBlue committee had meticulously organized. The mini-marathon also served as a culminating activity after months of fundraising and preparation.
The last hour of the evening was a “Celebration of Life Hour” in which 21-year-old Apollo Alumna and cancer survivor, Cassidy Skaggs spoke. Skaggs, who is currently celebrating seven months cancer-free, shared how cancer had touched her life at a young age, due to the diagnosis two young cousins received.
“Cancer actually didn’t come into my life when I was diagnosed,” Skaggs said. “It came into my life when I was younger…It’s something bigger than myself.”
Skaggs shared with the large group of students her heart for the children with cancer at Camp Quality where she has volunteered for the last five years. She then offered a transparent perspective on the struggles she has faced through chemotherapy and treatment, including the devastating loss of her hair.
As students wiped away tears, University of Kentucky mini-marathon chair Bobby Wilking stressed to those in attendance the importance of what they had accomplished.
“The more people that can hear the message of DanceBlue is more important than any amount of money we could ever raise,” Wilking said. He added that the students would now be able to proudly say, “I spent seven hours on a Sunday that is going to save someone for the rest of their life.”
Wilking reminded the students that the money raised would provide meals for the families of pediatric cancer patients, gas for their cars, hotel expenses and school intervention specialists to help children stay current in the classroom.
“Eventually we don’t want to be saying we’re dancing for the kids — we want to be dancing with the kids,” Wilking said. “Mini-marathons can change the world.”
After Wilking finished addressing the crowd, senior students took the stage to help with the final reveal of the fundraising total. As the cards were turned, $66,087.27 was displayed, giving the school a combined total of $216,000 over the last six years for the DanceBlue Kentucky Children’s Hospital Hematology and Oncology Clinic at the University of Kentucky.
The money raised was not just from the students and staff at Apollo High School. Apollo’s DanceBlue organizers have worked throughout the year with students from College View Middle School, and Audubon, Burns, Sorgho and Southern Oaks Elementary Schools, and community members.
