THON Family Hour: ‘Know That You Are One of the Best Things to Ever Happen to Us’

The families who inspire year-round fundraising and a 46-hour dance marathon took center stage on Sunday afternoon as THON 2017 headed into its final hours.

The emotional Family Hour recognized all the families of the Four Diamonds Fund, the program at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital that provides financial and emotional support to pediatric cancer patients and their families.

The hour also featured three families who discussed their experiences with cancer, the Four Diamonds Fund and Penn State’s THON, which has raised millions for the Four Diamonds since 1977.

Connor Rowan
On an unseasonably warm day in December 2014, 3-year-old Connor Rowan was playing outside with his older brother Alex. He came inside doubled over in pain and saying his stomach hurt. His mother, Marianne, said she thought he had a stomach bug. The next day, fearful it might be his appendix, she took Connor to the emergency room.

Doctors told Marianne and Connor’s father Michael that they had found a mass in his liver.

‘Shock, panic, heartbreak,’ Marianne described her reaction. She went into the small bathroom attached to Connor’s room and ‘silently screamed.’

The Rowans were immediately being transported to Penn State Hershey. Connor had liver cancer and the next day would undergo a seven-hour surgery.

‘When I grow up, I am going to be Spiderman,’ Connor told his mother, who said she could only think ‘Oh, please grow up.’

Connor finished treatments in March 2015 and today is 22 months in remission. Marianne said it was the work of the doctors and nurses at Penn State Hershey — where Connor was nicknamed ‘Courageous Connor’– as well as Four Diamonds and THON that got Connor and the family through.

‘What you guys did for us ended up meaning everything,’ Marianne said. ‘There are families whose children are diagnosed with cancer that they go bankrupt to afford treatments. All we had to focus on was getting Connor healthy.’

The Rowans attended their first THON event, Harvest Day, in the fall of 2015. Marianne said the Rowans started to ‘fall in love’ with THON. 

‘From visits to our family, pen pals, emails, you guys became a part of our family,’ Marianne said. ‘Our oldest son said Penn State feels like a second home to him.’

What was the most difficult time in their lives simultaneously became one of the most positive.

‘You’ve taken the worst moments of our lives and helped make them positive for us,’ she said. ‘What you’ve done and continue to do doesn’t just save kids’ lives. It saves families.

‘Know that we think you are one of the best things to ever happen to us.’

Marcus Josey
April 10, 2015 started out like any other school day for Marcus Josey. It would turn out to be far from normal.

Early in the school day at Northeastern High School in York, he got called to his guidance counselor’s office. Josey thought he was in trouble, but it was quite the opposite. He had received a letter from the head football coach at Harvard, stating they were in the final stages of recruiting him and had requested his SAT scores and school transcript.

Later that morning the school had an assembly with representatives from the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He didn’t think much of it. He didn’t know anyone with cancer. He was happy to get an hour off from classes.

But then he began hearing the symptoms of leukemia and he started paying close attention. For weeks prior he had experienced many of them. Doctors had given different explanations, none of them cancer.

‘I think I have leukemia,’ he told a friend. He sent a text message to his parents saying the same thing.

He got a nosebleed in class and his mother came to pick him up. She took him to the hospital, where, after blood tests, a doctor confirmed what Josey had said. He had acute lymphoblastic leukemia and was sent to Penn State Hershey.

Josey, who will continue treatment until August 2018, said there have been many ups and downs. A quarterback on his high school football team, he developed blood clots in his throwing arm. Treatments caused mouth sores so bad he couldn’t eat and had to be hospitalized. He was too weak to walk for a time.

‘The most amazing thing through this journey has been all the wonderful people I got to meet these past two years,’ Josey said.

He developed a close relationship with Elliott Ross, an 8-year-old who was diagnosed with the same disease just days after Josey. Their close bond was featured in a ‘Road to Victory’ documentary produced by the Philadelphia Eagles.

Josey has been inspired by the doctors at Penn State Hershey. Dr. Malika Kapadia, in particular, has shown him that a doctor’s relationship with the patient is as critical as their medical knowledge.

‘That’s why today I want to be a pediatric oncologist in the future,’ said Josey, now a freshman at Gettysburg College. ‘I hope to be a great doctor like her one day.’

The work of the students involved in THON, however, has been his greatest inspiration.

‘The most inspirational people through all of this have been you guys,’ he said. ‘I know how hard school can be alone, I can’t imagine doing half of what you guys do on top of school.’

Marcus Josey shared his story from the THON stage on Sunday afternoon. Photo by Geoff Rushton/StateCollege.com

Savion Atterberry
He never stopped fighting.

At age 2, Savion Atterberry of York was diagnosed with Guillain–Barré syndrome, an immune system condition that damages nerve cells and required him to be frequently hospitalized.

He was later diagnosed with neuroblastoma cancer, but by age 5 he was cancer free.

Five years later he was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, which caused a tumor in his spinal cord and left him unable to walk. In January 2016, he passed away.

But through his battles, he never stopped living his life and thinking of others.

‘Savi didn’t lose the fight. He won,’ his mother, Anjanette, said. ‘He fought a good fight. He lived a special life even if it ended at 10. He was our hero. He was here for a reason. Those monsters couldn’t break him. He never gave up.’

Anjanette Atterberry and other members of Savion’s family thanked THON participants for the time they spent with him and encouraged them to continue their work.

‘A legacy lasts forever,’ she said.

The family of Savion Atterberry spoke during THON Family Hour about his battle with cancer. Photo by Onward State.