Dance Marathon is a national event. At Hope College students stay on their feet for 24 hours in the Dow to raise money for Helen Devos Children’s Hospital and the miracle families that attend the event. With a record number of participants this year (976 to be exact), the gym was packed but that didn’t stop the fun or excitement. While we were exhausted and almost dead at many hours throughout the 24-hour period, we kept going because of our common goal of raising money for Helen Devos and the wonderful miracle families we met. Miracle families are families who have children treated at the hospital. With a lot of these families, they come back every year to do Dance Marathon with us and we see a lot of the kids grow up. Thus, I wrote an article describing my thoughts and emails over these crazy, emotional 24 hours.

Hour 1: Nervous but excited for the hours ahead! We waited in line for awhile and then waited in Maas Auditorium for further instructions.

Hour 2: Eager to get started! We watched a hilarious remake of Adele’s “Hello” video to explain the rules of Dance Marathon and then were directed to the Dow.

Hour 3: PURE EXCITEMENT

Once allowed into the Dow, we ran through a human bridge/tunnel till we got to the end then added onto the tunnel as we watched our miracle families run through. This was it: Dance Marathon had officially begun!! Two of the miracle children sang the national anthem and we were off.

Hour 3 Part 2: The immediate rush of emotions. We were introduced to the 18 miracle families and heard a few of their stories. An immediate rush of emotions was present because of the realization of how hard these kids have it even though they are so young.

Hour 4: OH MY GOSH HOW CUTE!! As a person who loves children, watching these incredible children show their talents was the cutest thing.

PART TWO Of HOUR 4: 5...4...3...2...1….Dancing has arrived! Line dancing. Get hyped! Whether you could dance or even if you couldn’t, everyone was out on that floor learning the line dance.

Hour 5: Heard more miracle families stories. A true reminder of why we should be more thankful for what we have. After hearing more families tell their stories, you couldn’t help but want to aspire to be as strong as those little kids have been all their lives.

Hour 6: West Ottawa High School also did a dance marathon and their total was added to ours. They went on stage and even showed us their own special line dance.

Hour 7: 24 hrs? No problem. Bring it on! I’m not even tired.

A dark, smoke-filled, music jamming room full of jumping people with glow sticks. Rave time has me so pumped that I honestly think my energy will never run out. Then we had pizza for dinner.

Hour 8: I got this line dancing down. Let’s go.

Hour 8 Part 2: Stand up comedy by Sean Zorn.

Hour 9: Basketballs and volleyballs flying everywhere. People playing cornhole. Watch out as you walk to where your bag is stored. Thunder and Lightning Competition with more learning the steps of the line dance.

Hour 10: Michael Macks absolutely killed the lip sync with his Nicki Minaj act to “Anaconda” in his hot pink wig. One of the most hilarious things all night. The rest of the teams were super fierce too.

Hour 11: When John Luke tells you to hit the quan, you hit that quan. More line dancing.

Hour 12: Halfway through and I’m not even tired….nope...totally not tired.

Hour 13: Doing just fine guys...this is nothing..I’m awake.

Hour 13 Part 2: Relief. If you raised over $50 then you got to lay back and put your legs in the pool for a brief period of time.

Hour 14: I can’t…..my legs….Everyone was either wall sitting or squatting and holding onto someone else’s leg for support.

Hour 15: I’ll just watch everyone else learn the line dance. I feel like the guy in the corner leaning up against the wall with his sweatshirt over his face.

Hour 15 Part 2: MUST STAY AWAKE! The Chapel band is awesome and I know these songs but I. Am. So. Tired. Breakfast soon.

Hour 16: A SECOND WAVE OF ENERGY! Zumba time is here and I’m ready to go.

Hour 16 Part 2: More miracle families speak and I feel refreshed hearing their stories of such strength and perseverance. Then I walked over to the table to design a circle on a banner for FTK to answer the question of why I dance. Shout out to the boy who was designing circles for every miracle child, you rock.

Hour 17: $5 fine and I am too tired to even to sing along. A lot of people are trying to sing while crouching.

Hour 18: These teachers dance better than I do. So You Hope You Can Dance is happening and it’s where a few faculty are paired and taught moves by Hope dancing majors.

Hour 19: Am I tired? Yes. Can I move my feet? Hardly. Am I still line dancing? Heck yeah I am.

Hour 19 Part 2: So many kids who fought for their lives and who are still fighting. My legs ache, my eyes hurt, but that is nothing in comparison to what these children have had to go through their entire lives. #FTK

Hour 20: Feels just like the Hoedown except I don’t have my boots. Country line dancing taught by an instructor. Whoever said you couldn’t memorize killer moves on zero sleep?

Hour 21: What time even is it? I honestly can’t even remember what I did at this hour. I think I played ping pong and went in the bouncy house. I remember eating lunch at one point and watching the long line of people at tables with their heads down next to their plates. That exhaustion wave is hitting us all really hard.

Hour 22: Falling asleep standing up but refreshed hearing the last group of miracle families sharing their stories. My heart goes out to every family affected.

Hour 22 Part 2: Everyone is killing it up in here! We’re all beyond exhausted but this line dancing competition has us all up and moving.

Hour 23: I’m going to cry. Riley Jo’s (one of the miracle children) dad said he would shave his head for $200 and we met that goal. Therefore, some of the miracle children with the help of adults shaved his head. He gave a speech afterward that almost had me in tears saying that he was blessed for all of us because we are raising money for the hospital that saved his daughter’s life. Without that wonderful hospital, he would not have his daughter here with him today.

Hour 23 Part 2: So many emotions. Awards are given out to some of the dancers and the total of how much we raised is revealed. Our goal was $190,000 but we completely destroyed that goal by raising $256,323.13. That is completely out of this world (pun intended). The amount revealed, after all, the numbers were shown resulted in at least half of the people in the crowd with tears in their eyes, myself included. I’m still so amazed.

Hour 24: Bittersweet feeling as we head to the outside edge of the gym for the Circle of Hope as families go down the line high-fiving us. I want to hug each and every child and their family members so badly knowing the battle they face every day. We are all exhausted but this emotional moment reminds us exactly why we danced for 24 hours: for the kids.