CURE reps urge dancers to keep going

As the Dodd family took the stage, all eyes focused upon 8-year-old Stacy.

Stacy had her first seizure seven years ago, her mother Kathy Dodd said. Doctors originally said Stacy had the flu, until she suffered another attack the next day.

"Stacy will live a life of complete dependency on other people," her mother said.

Stacy might experience as many as 100 attacks in one day, Kathy Dodd said, and she suffered a seizure early Saturday morning.

But on stage Stacy's energy was infectious. She walked around the stage with her sister Cameron as their mother spoke. And when she got the mic, Stacy delighted the crowd.

"Thank you," she said cheerfully. "I love you. Can I dance?"

To this, the hundreds of dancers let out a resounding "Yeah!"

Medill sophomore Jennifer Barnes said the presentation was "very moving."

"It definitely encourages us to keep going," she said.

Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy, the main beneficiary of Dance Marathon, provides seed grants for doctors to conduct research about epilepsy, Bob Dodd said.

"We have grown from being a small organization of five or six mothers to a nationwide organization raising half a million dollars each year," he said.

The proceeds from DM should double what CURE raises in a given year, he said.

"It's incredibly inspiring," Dodd said. "There are times when you feel hopeless, but you look at that group in there and you feel so much hope."

Text: Nomaan Merchant/The Daily Northwestern
Photo: Lauren Pond/The Daily Northwestern