No amount of sleep deprivation could hinder the excitement of everyone involved with DanceBlue when it was announced that they raised over $1.6 million on Sunday night.

Despite having spent the last 24 hours on their feet, dancers jumped for joy, cheered and embraced as celebratory music played and confetti cannons sent streamers flying. 

An adoring audience screamed supportively from the stands of Memorial Coliseum. 

After the total was announced, dancers completed the 24th run-through of their hourly line dance before collectively collapsing on the floor.

“The last three hours I would say were the best, the most fulfilling and really helped you remember why you were dancing,” first-time dancer and junior Kara Morris said. “That was helpful because at that last little bit you really need to sit down.” 

The last few hours of the marathon consisted of a talent show featuring acts by patients of the DanceBlue Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Clinic and presentations sharing their stories, one of which was given by UK junior Johnny Kirkpatrick. 

Kirkpatrick was diagnosed with leukemia three months into his freshman year of college and  treated by the DanceBlue clinic. He is now cancer-free and wanted to express how much DanceBlue’s mission means to him, inspiring him to go from patient to dancer. 

“It was special. Even though my journey was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, there’s so many other kids in the clinic that have it worse,” Kirkpatrick said. “So it’s nice to give back to them while giving back to all the doctors and nurses and other people working at the clinic.”

The typically boisterous bunch fell silent when a slideshow honoring DanceBlue patients lost to cancer played around the 23-hour mark. Dancers held each other up, literally and figuratively, as tears streamed down their faces. 

“DanceBlue is not just some torturous fundraiser that you got to be a part of. It’s a family,” founder Jennfier Mynear said to the crowd. “And it’s a family that has built a house of hope, and of love and of joy. For the kids, like all the families you’ve seen and the ones who can’t be here, who are facing the battle of their lives. And also for the families who’ve lost the battle.”

Mynear founded DanceBlue after her son Jarrett lost his battle to cancer at 13 years old in 2002, inspired by his final wish to raise money to improve the Pediatric Oncology Clinic at Kentucky Children’s Hospital, according to the organization’s website.

The first marathon occurred in 2006 and raised $100,000. Since then, it has been on what Mynear called “an absolute meteoric rise,” raising over $20 million in its history (including this year).

DanceBlue has taken place every year since its founding, albeit virtually in 2021 and with masks and restrictions in 2022 due to COVID-19.

This year’s marathon was fully in person with no COVID-19 restrictions, creating an experience that has been missing the past few years.

“DanceBlue has embedded into our college life and experience,” DanceBlue veteran and third-year pharmacy student at UK Candy Lu said. “Going through a pandemic changed a lot, but this year it feels more normal again.”

This year marked Lu’s fourth time dancing and her dance partner and fellow third-year pharmacy student Payton Serafini’s third time. The two agreed that the hardest part of a DanceBlue marathon is getting through the physical pain, especially during the 16th, 17th and 18th hours.

“Knowing that these kids go through so much, remembering that they go through so much more than the temporary pain that we are going through keeps me going,” Serafini said. 

Morris said that keeping a positive attitude is what kept her dancing.

“It’s really a mind game of remembering why you’re doing it and just thinking, ‘I’m not the only one doing this, this is bigger than me, look at all these other people, they probably are tired, they probably hurt too,’ but thinking of it as a group effort,” Morris said. 

The first place Morris went following the marathon was Local Taco, then the shower, and then to bed, where she stayed for 12 hours. She was surprised to wake up Monday with minimal pain.

“I did crash last night,” Morris said. “My legs are a little heavy but I stretched a good bit last night and during the marathon, so I’m really doing pretty good.”

Some students participated in DanceBlue for loved ones impacted by cancer. This was the case for Lexie Meade, marketing chair of DanceBlue, who lost a close friend to pediatric cancer. Meade’s friend’s experience with the DanceBlue clinic over the course of his fight inspired her.  

“I got to see how much him and his family loved DanceBlue and how much the DanceBlue clinic was able to ease the burden cancer had on him and his family,” Meade said. “I knew when coming to the University of Kentucky, DanceBlue was something I had to be involved in to carry on his legacy.”

Everyone on the dance floor last weekend shared the mindset that participating in DanceBlue is well worth it for the kids, or “FTK” as their motto says.

“We all work for a time when we don’t need your hope and we don’t need your love and we don’t need your joy. But until then, we have DanceBlue,” Mynear said to the dancers and audience. “And we have you, all of us have you. There are no words to express how much that means and the difference that every single one of you has made.”