SNAPS THON
THON is a student-run philanthropy committed to enhancing the lives of children and families impacted by childhood cancer. Its mission is to provide emotional and financial support, spread awareness and ensure funding for critical research – all in pursuit of a cure. SNAPS participates in THON with out partner Zeta Beta Tau. Each year we fundraise and show support for our families throughout the year. THON weekend is a 46 hour no sleeping, no sitting, dance marathon. During the weekend, SNAPS has a section in the stands to cheer on our dancers, support the THON community, and show THON families our support by taking a stand against pediatric cancer. To support THON in SNAPS name, please visit our Donor Drive at:
For more information about THON, please visit THON.org.
Meet our THON kids!
Ryan Packer
We are the Packer family: Dean (Dad), Denise (Mom), Alex (brother), & Ryan (Our Warrior). Ryan was having fevers on and off for about 2 weeks (June 2019). After 3 visits to his pediatrician, we convinced them to do bloodwork. With no other real symptoms, he was diagnosed with a virus. June 26, 2019, the pediatrician called and told us that Ryan’s Bloodwork came back with concerning results and that we needed to go to Penn State Children’s Hospital in Hershey for direct admission for further bloodwork and to get a definitive diagnosis. On June 27, 2019, we were told that Ryan had B Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BALL). He is considered very high risk due to his age at the time (13) and that he had leukemia cells present in his spinal fluid after his first spinal tap. On October 11, 2021, Ryan rang the bell at Penn State Health Children’s Hospital. On October 21 st , Ryan took his last oral medication and got his port out on the 25 th . Four dozen Penn State students showed up to Hershey for his bell ringing, all ringing orange cowbells that said “#PackerStrong.”
When Ryan was diagnosed in 2019, he had to make the difficult decision to stop playing lacrosse during his treatment. Ryan is a passionate lacrosse player and has some amazing memories playing alongside his teammates. After treatment, Ryan was super excited to get back
on the field to play lacrosse, and on December 3, 2021, Ryan played his first Lacrosse game inover 2.5 years!
Hearing that your child has cancer, is one of the hardest things a parent can go through. Luckily, we were at Penn State Children’s Hospital, and they were so supportive and informative to our family. The social worker at Hershey reached out to us and explained Four Diamonds as well as THON. We were accepted into Four Diamonds and knew right away we needed to get involved in THON. Our oldest son participated in Dover Area HS Mini Thon a few months earlier prior to Ryan’s diagnosis.
In Spring 2021 Ryan participated in his first Mini-THON at Dover Area HS. He had so many family and friends to support him so much he was the top fundraiser!! He got to pick any prize he wanted that they had. He had such a great time raising money for such an AWESOME
organization like THON. Also, to top off his 10 th grade year he finally got back to playing the sport he has grown to love, lacrosse!!! He also played summer lacrosse too. Spring and summer he has even scored in each season to top both off!!
We were assigned to two wonderful organizations as our THON family. Zeta Beta Tau Fraternity (ZBT) and the Student Nurse Association of Penn State (SNAPS). They both have been awesome and are truly like family. During the pandemic, they had frequent zoom meetings
with our orgs, and even came to Ryan’s surprise party a week after he rang the bell. Ryan’s father Dean, says “Those Penn State students are simply amazing, it’s not a ride that every family wants to go on, but enjoy it, the fun times outweigh the bad” Now we are still paired with the SNAPS and Kinesiology club. They both are the best and we couldn’t have asked for any better!!
When you first hear that your child has cancer, your world falls apart and you automatically think “How will I pay for all the treatments, medicines, and hospital stays?” Four Diamonds and THON take away that burden so all you must do is concentrate on helping your child fight this battle. “It’s a surreal experience, if someone wants to help you with something, let them.”
Four Diamonds/THON has also helped us make some awesome memories as a family by inviting us to attend several PSU sporting events and of course attending THON weekend.
Follow along with the Packer’s journey on Instagram Packerstrong.22 & on Facebook Packerstrong22
#PACKERSTRONG22 #PACKERSTRONG #CANCERDIDNTWIN #WEARE #FTK #THON #MINITHON2023
Lucas Steigelman
After Lucas’ 7th birthday on December 30th 2015, he started feeling ill but his parents thought it was the “normal” cold weather sickness. As the month of January went by, his parents decided to take him to the doctor. He was diagnosed with a double ear infection and an acute upper respiratory virus. On Wednesday, January 20th, 2016, his parents took him to the ER thinking he possibly had pneumonia. That day will forever be the day that Lucas’ life and everyone’s around him changed. While being treated for pneumonia he was then transferred to Penn State Hershey Medical Center Children’s Hospital Hematology/Oncology. There, he was diagnosed with severe anemia. After multiple blood and platelet transfusions, it was clear to the doctors that Lucas was sicker than we thought. Later that night is when they told us the news that no parent wants to hear. Lucas was diagnosed with Leukemia. They did not know what kind of Leukemia, nor were they sure the severity of his diagnosis. In the following days, they told us Lucas’ situation was rare. They knew why but did not know how, he went from being perfectly fine to having cancer. The doctors told us that what happened and that the last known case was over 10 years ago and that the treatments that were available then, were not available now as they were found to cause more harm than good. They also told us, that if we did not make the decision to go to the ER when we did, we could have been making different arrangements within a few days to a week.
Lucas was diagnosed with childhood T-ALL Leukemia which normally has a survival rate of 80-85% with a treatment time of 3 to 3.5 years between the day of diagnosed to last day of chemotherapy. Lucas’ case is so rare and unique that the doctors are not sure what his survival rate would be. He was so high risk that he qualified for a research/study program for the chemotherapy he is currently getting and he receives chemotherapy that adults are put on.
As of today, October 2023, Lucas is 14, soon to be 15 in Dec. He enjoys boxing, gaming, hanging with friends and hitting the weight room after school. He also loves to go fishing! He is a 9th grader who is now 4 years and 5 months off treatment and has one more 6 month check up before he continues into Long Term care which is yearly. We are so proud to be paired with SNAPS and we could not be more thankful for the love and support they have given us throughout the years especially for him and his sister, Courtney, his mom (Stacy) and dad (Bill) and two older brothers, William and Shane.
