Daniel Popjes, a blonde, energetic and charismatic 4-year-old got to return to his favorite place this past weekend. Year after year, the Bryce Jordan Center transforms from a basketball stadium to a magical, philanthropic land filled with dancing kids, hugging strangers and one determined, hopeful community.
THON is what differentiates Penn State from the rest. It is a weekend that allows families to forget about hospital visits and treatments and lets kids be kids. It is a 46-hour dance marathon where smiles are shining and songs are being sung, regardless of the exhaustion or swollen feet.
It’s all for families like the Popjes. VALLEY was granted the opportunity to speak with the Popjes family during Daniel’s favorite weekend of the year. His countdown to THON started on Christmas day, when his Mom, Shannon Popjes, was trying to curb the repetitive “Mommy, is it time to go to the Bryce Jordan Center?” They decided to pin numbers on their wall, and each day, they would pull one down until the weekend was finally here again.
Daniel was diagnosed with Liver cancer in 2019. After trying to express concerns for over six months, and being shut down with “you’re just a new mom” or “you have post-partum depression,” Popjes took Daniel to his nine-month check-up where the doctor noticed something during his abdomen exam. “I think he’s probably just constipated,” the doctor says. But continues, “but if it were my child, I would want a cat-scan.” The ultrasound was scheduled for 8 a.m. and they returned home at 5:30 p.m. with the diagnosis.
Daniel’s tumor markers were over 55,000. “They don’t know how high it really was,” says Popjes. “Hershey stops reading at that level.” She explains that normal high levels are 8.6. From there, it’s been a journey, but “we’ve been good so far,” she says, knocking on wood.
Popjes has been on both sides, working and volunteering in oncology. “There used to be a relay that ran from Penn State’s Health Children’s Hospital to THON.” She was part of that for several years as one of the runners who ran from the hospital to bring up letters to kids at THON. Because of that prior experience, when the opportunity to be involved with THON arose again “it was a no-brainer,” Popjes states. “It came full circle for me, from being on the provider-side, to now being on the family-side.”
When asking Daniel what his favorite part of THON is, he answered as if it were a no-brainer: “The Bryce Jordan Center.” When his mom answered, it was not so much about the place, but the people who make it all happen. “It’s so nice to just forget about reality for 46 hours,” says Popjes. “We left at 8:30 this morning and haven’t really thought about anything in Hershey since.” The Popjes are family members (yes, family members) with club field hockey and baseball and the mutual love and appreciation between the two units was apparent and inspiring.
“We made bags for all our dancers, they’re like ‘thank you’ and I’m like no ‘thank you — we are so appreciative of everything you’ve done’. It’s ‘what can I do to help you guys?’” Popjes went on to explain that last year, it was a text at 3:18 a.m. from a dancer that was really struggling. She woke up Daniel and they came back to the BJC to meet the dancer in a hallway and talk him through. “You guys are like ‘what you guys have been through…’ like, well yeah — we have been through a lot, but what you guys are doing is nothing short of amazing.”
While his mom was talking, Daniel was going through his mail made by club field hockey and baseball, written in colorful markers and incorporating jokes such as, “What kind of tree can you fit in your hand?” (It’s a palm tree, by the way — Daniel liked that one.)
The three words that Popjes uses to describe THON are: amazing, all-inspiring and after a thoughtful pause, the third was “thankful.” Whether it is being stuck on the Schuylkill while coming home from Philly and stopping at a baseball members parent’s house, or how Daniel was mad that the THON football game was in Beaver Stadium and not the Bryce Jordan Center, it is clear that THON is much more than just a weekend. It is a lifelong commitment to these kids, like Daniel, and dancing for a cure.
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