With the conclusion of THON weekend, VALLEY highlights the Emilia Dameshek family.
Natalie and Mitchell Dameshek have partnered with the Club Gymnastics team since their daughter, Emilia, was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a rare bone cancer, in 2013. The pairing was a perfect match, especially with Emilia’s love for tumbling and the organization’s involvement with the whole Dameshek family.
“They took him [Emilia’s brother, Max] to Hershey Park when she was in the hospital and she couldn’t do that, [they] visited us many, many times. They spoke at her funeral. So we’re really close,” Natalie says. “The kids change every four years and kind of turned over, but they were super important to us.”
The Damesheks have been attending THON since 2014, this year being their 11th year. Emilia was able to attend THON weekends 2014-2016, her last being when she relapsed. While the Damesheks were unsure about attending THON in 2016, Emilia’s doctor urged them to go. When they got to the Bryce Jordan Center, Club Gymnastics was excited to see them, as if seeing Emilia was a “celebrity sighting.”
“She had had cancer for a third time, and we didn’t know what was going to happen, but she came and she looked amazing –– she looked healthy, she had fun. She did the fashion show with two of the Club Gymnastics girls,” says Natalie. “We took her home and finished treatment, and three months to the day of being here, she died. So it’s kind of just crazy when you look back at the pictures that she was so vibrant and alive, and three months later, she was gone.”
Emilia was an “all-American kid,” according to Natalie, who loved making Musical.lys, going to the pool with her friends and hoping for a dog for Christmas.
“She was so sweet, just sweet and bright and beautiful, and she was special,” says Natalie. “Even before she got cancer, she was special.”
Since Emilia’s death in 2016 when she was 12 years old, the Damesheks have attended all but one THON weekend, even speaking during family hour in 2019.
“Another really special memory was the year that we spoke. I mean, that was incredible, but Max hugging one of the gym club members who was a boy while we were waiting was really sweet,” says Natalie. “They were really supportive of him too.”
The Damesheks continue to attend and support THON even more now as Max is a first-year who is fundraising for his own organization. As THON has continued to grow, the Damesheks have enjoyed seeing the impact of Mini-THONs that have reached past Hershey, Pennsylvania and the overall expansion of fundraising and awareness.
“I think the biggest testimony for Four Diamonds is that we’re a bereaved family, we did not get the outcome that we wanted, but we still show up, because we’re here to support you kids who are supporting us,” says Natalie.
For more information about THON and how to donate, please visit THON.org.
