THON 2010 Dancer Profile: Family Visit

Editor’s Note: StateCollege.com will be tracking THON dancer Brittney Kern as she prepares for and follows through with THON 2010. This is part two of the ongoing series. Part one can be found here.

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Negley Family Visit 

By Brittney Kern

A recent Sunday, the Springfield dancers visited one of our three THON families, the Negleys. While all family trips are always exciting and a lot of fun, this one was especially special, as we were able to meet the newest member of the Springfield family: Jude William Negley. At only 10 days old, Jude is nothing short of a precious angel.

We arrived at the Negley home a little after 12 p.m. after a two-hour trip from State College to Shippensburg. The Negleys welcomed us warmly at the door, Tim (Dad) holding Jude, and Renata, Abel and Celeste (Mom) right behind him. Renata is our newest Four Diamonds child; she finished her treatment in May 2009. Renata is 5, Abel is 4, and the baby is just a few weeks old.

While the rest of the group cooed over the baby, I gave Renata a huge hug and asked for a hug from Abel, who was more excited to show me the boxing gloves he was wearing than to say hi.

We spent the afternoon passing around baby Jude and taking family pictures, playing dress-up with Renata, and having tickle wars and playing hide and seek with Abel. Abel was especially fond of showing off some of his most recent acquisitions, including a contraction he named the “Grabber-Nabber.” I don’t exactly know what this is really called, but it’s one of those things that a clawed-arm that you use to reach something really high or far away. Abel likes to use it to grab people.

All in all, it was a fantastic day! We are all so excited to meet the baby and to see the rest of the family, whom we hadn’t seen since the THON 5K months before. The whole family will be at THON 2010 in only a few days, and we are all ecstatic to see them again!