Dancers fight cancer
Students raise funds for Nationwide Children’s Hospital at annual Buckeyethon
They wore crazy costumes, teamed up by color and screamed and danced, but 3,000 Ohio State students did it for a purpose that’s deadly serious.
From 7 p.m. Thursday to 7 a.m. Friday, 2,000 students (mostly) stayed on their feet at the Ohio Union as part of the 19th Buckeyethon. Then Saturday morning, the second shift of 1,000 took over.
They and another 2,200 students each raised at least $250 to help support research, innovation and psychological assistance at the Hematology/oncology/bone Marrow Transplant Unit at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.
This year’s haul wasn’t tallied until after press time, but it adds to $8.1 million already raised since the inception of Buckeyethon. That’s a lot of money raised in a selfless cause by college students who are often broke and a little self-absorbed.
“Part of our vision is to teach our students the power of philanthropy, and we’re going to do so by ending pediatric cancer,” said Buckeyethon President Imran Nuri, a third-year finance major. “We’re shaping them to learn the power of giving so that as they grow older they’ll
consider other causes and give to them and understand why their giving is so important.”
Or, as Nuri explained it to the crowd in Saturday morning’s opening rally, it was “1,000 Buckeyes coming together to create a future for the kids who are just down the road.”
Columbus resident Natalie Andrews told the group of her family’s relationship with one of those kids. In 2013, she and her husband, Jason, adopted Samuel, a boy with severe hemophilia, from China.
He had a genetic condition making his blood reluctant to clot, meaning Samuel was in constant danger of bleeding to death. When the Andrews adopted Samuel as a 4-yearold, he was lying in a Chinese hospital that lacked the appropriate drugs to treat his condition.
Even back in the states, Samuel had to have two intravenous infusions of medicine every week— until October. That’s when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved a new treatment that means Samuel now only needs two shots a month, Natalie Andrews said.
Participating in an event that funds such innovation is a big draw for students such as Sharadyn Ille, a secondyear pre-med student from Cincinnati.
“It’s really cool, seeing the families and sharing this with them,” she said.
Natalie Pastor, a secondyear psychology student from Cleveland, said hearing about the challenges faced by kids at Children’s Hospital prompted her to reflect on her own fortune.
“I love kids, I want to work with kids and give back to kids,” she said. “It reminds us how lucky we are.”
mschladen@dispatch.com @martyschladen silent on the status of that plan or even what she intends to do.
Then on Tuesday, Baker and his board ally W. Shawna Gibbs, currently the longestserving member of the board, both declined to file to run for re-election in November and will serve out their terms. A fifth member, Ramona Reyes, is seeking to fill a vacancy on the Columbus City Council and could resign her board seat if selected.
That leaves another Baker ally, Vice President Michael Cole, and member Eric Brown, who sometimes opposed the Baker majority that often also included Reyes, as the only two members of the original seven that hired Dixon not to have resigned, attempted to leave or announced plans to leave in January. Two new members, James Ragland and Jennifer Adair, were appointed to the board in late November.
The school district is facing a potential state takeover in 2020-21. Baker said that played no role in the timing of his departure.
“I hope that’s not the reason,” Dixon said.
“We never had discussed that.”
bbush@dispatch.com @Reporterbush