A four-year-old blond boy wearing a blue, long-sleeved shirt with a white football and the number 88 printed on it danced to hip-hop music with around 20 college students on a stage on the basketball courts of the Recreation Fitness and Wellness Center.
The little boy’s name is Andrew Satterfield and he is a patient at Riley Children’s Hospital.
Andrew and his family participated in USI’s Riley Dance Marathon (USIDM) on Saturday to help raise money for Riley Children’s Hospital.
Andrew was born with omphalocele (a separated pelvis), cloacal exstrophy (bladder and intestines were on the outside of his body), and congenital heart defects, said Emily Satterfield, Andrew’s mother.
After Andrew was born, he was rushed to Riley Hospital from Newburgh, Satterfield said.
“We love it there,” Satterfield said. “They take really good care of the families. They make sure that we’re included in all the decisions about his care.”
Satterfield and Kate Buchheit shared their experiences at Riley during USIDM.
Helping to raise money for Riley is “such a treat,” said Buchheit, sophomore nutrition major. Buchheit said throughout her struggle with cancer – she is now almost 11 years cancer-free – she and her family try to raise cancer awareness and give back to Riley.
“Riley is like my second home,” Buchheit said.
Buchheit shared her story on a poster in the “Inspiration Tent,” which displayed stories and pictures of Riley kids.
Every hour a Riley kid or family talked about Riley and everyone learned part of the moral dance, which they completed at the end to show what they accomplished.
There were games to play, and the members of the committee dressed up in different themes, such as ninja, Disney and 1980s.
Junior occupational therapy major Annelise Will said she went to USIDM with her sorority sisters in Gamma Phi Beta because she heard that it is fun, and she knows people who were helped by Riley.
“I just love learning the dance every hour, and I love every hour how I get to listen to the stories of people that have been helped out by Riley,” Will said.
USIDM participants raised a total of $6,183.80.
Around 100 people were at the event, including committee members, said Theresa Scheller, sophomore pre-nursing major and USIDM committee member.
“About the turnout and the money: that’s not the most important part,” Scheller said. “To me, the most important part is the awareness of the event and just the seeing these students out here and seeing the opportunities they have, to have a new perspective on life by hearing these stories from these families.”
