“Jocelyn Buckey, a 21-year-old marketing management major at the University of Akron, got involved with the student organization Up ’til Dawn last year. The organization seeks to raise money and awareness for St. Jude Children’s hospital in Akron. Buckey heard about St.”
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Jocelyn Buckey, a 21-year-old marketing management major at the University of Akron, got involved with the student organization Up ’til Dawn last year. The organization seeks to raise money and awareness for St. Jude Children’s hospital in Akron.

Buckey heard about St. Jude’s and the work it was doing through a friend who is a cancer survivor and former patient of the hospital. Buckey, who also had a cousin pass away due to childhood cancer, was instantly involved when she heard about the organization.

To watch a family member go through that pain and suffering is really devastating, and that’s why I’m doing this, she said. St. Jude’s is there to help, and we’re here to help St. Jude’s.

St. Jude Children’s research hospital was founded in 1962. It was the first institution in the country established to conduct basic and clinical research into childhood diseases, focusing on cancer.

The hospital treats children regardless of race, religion, creed or ability to pay.

You read that right. Or ability to pay.

If a treatment isn’t covered by a family’s insurance, they aren’t asked to pay for it.

When a family without an insurance policy comes to the hospital they are never asked to pay.

Sounds like an amazing place, right? Not only does it treat patients for free, it shares research findings with doctors and hospitals around the world.

But generosity is expensive. The daily operating costs of the hospital are more than a million dollars.

That cost is provided for by public contributions.

That’s where Up ’til Dawn comes in. Up ’til Dawn is a national organization, and is hosted by more than 180 campuses throughout the country. It is in its second year at UA, and its main goal is to raise money and awareness for St. Jude’s.

Last year, it did a good job at helping the hospital, raising $39,000 throughout the whole year.

But the organization doesn’t just raise money. In fact, this week is Up ’til Dawn Awareness Week.

Throughout the week, the organization has held fundraisers at local restaurants, a candlelight vigil at the Student Union and will hold a bachelor auction Thursday, sponsored in part by Zips Programming Network.

It’s really important for us to be aware of what’s going on there, Buckey said. One day, our children may have cancer. They share their research with everyone, and so everyone will benefit in the future.

It’s encouraging, Buckey says, to receive so much support from the university community, including local businesses.

We’ve gotten lots of support from businesses on campus donating food and gift certificates. This week, we worked with the Barley House downtown for one of our fundraisers. There’s a lot of community support here.

Awareness is important, and so is the work St. Jude’s has done over the past 45 years. When the hospital was founded, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, was 4 percent.

Now, the survival rate is 94 percent, thanks in part to the work and research done at St. Jude’s.

It’s a humbling experience to see what these kids go through, to see the pain that they and their families go through, Buckey said. It’s amazing to see that they can be healed – and to realize that St. Jude’s Children’s hospital is the source of that healing.

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” #1.1361781:1035860262.jpg:20070927_candlevigial-1.cb.jpg:Students participate in a candlelight vigil outside the Student Union Sept. 25 for Up ’til Dawn.:chistopher Bair”