2008 Woodie Awards
Marathon changes dancers' lives
Kurt Hiatt - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 2/1/07 Section: Metro
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From music to medical school, and from film to nursing, Greg Rice and Brian Martin never thought their lives would take the turns they did.
But after the UI students participated in Dance Marathon, Rice and Martin discovered that the kids they helped ended up changing their own lives.
As a freshman, Rice - now a second-year UI medical student - said he didn't even know what Dance Marathon was. But after his first 24-hour event, he was hooked.
"I fell in love with these kids," he said.
And remembering the relationship he had with Kyle encourages Rice to continue to volunteer.
Rice sponsored the 5-year-old last year. In their time together, Rice frequently kept Kyle company at the hospital and always lost to him in the game Memory, Rice recalled.
But doctors told Kyle last winter that he didn't have much longer to live.
Kyle's family took out loans to take the child to Mexico. Country-music singer Garth Brooks later heard about Kyle's story and eventually paid for the trip, letting the family use his private jet.
When the family returned, Kyle's parents asked Rice to make a video from their trip. The UI student stayed up the entire night putting it together and got the documentary to the family the next day.
Kyle, whose family checked him out of the hospital so he could be at home, later died watching that video with his family.
"It was one of my most special moments working with Dance Marathon and these children," Rice said.
Another compelling part for Rice is the slide show at the end of the marathon - where event organizers show pictures of children who have been helped by the benefit, including those who didn't win their battle against cancer.
"That's when it really hit me," the Urbandale native said, even though he didn't know the kids in that first slide show. But "the next year, some of the kids I worked with were up there."
As a result of his work with Dance Marathon, Rice shoved all his science courses into one semester, took the MCAT without studying much, and got in to the UI medical school, he said. Now, he works as a child life assistant at the UI Hospitals and Clinics.
But after the UI students participated in Dance Marathon, Rice and Martin discovered that the kids they helped ended up changing their own lives.
As a freshman, Rice - now a second-year UI medical student - said he didn't even know what Dance Marathon was. But after his first 24-hour event, he was hooked.
"I fell in love with these kids," he said.
And remembering the relationship he had with Kyle encourages Rice to continue to volunteer.
Rice sponsored the 5-year-old last year. In their time together, Rice frequently kept Kyle company at the hospital and always lost to him in the game Memory, Rice recalled.
But doctors told Kyle last winter that he didn't have much longer to live.
Kyle's family took out loans to take the child to Mexico. Country-music singer Garth Brooks later heard about Kyle's story and eventually paid for the trip, letting the family use his private jet.
When the family returned, Kyle's parents asked Rice to make a video from their trip. The UI student stayed up the entire night putting it together and got the documentary to the family the next day.
Kyle, whose family checked him out of the hospital so he could be at home, later died watching that video with his family.
"It was one of my most special moments working with Dance Marathon and these children," Rice said.
Another compelling part for Rice is the slide show at the end of the marathon - where event organizers show pictures of children who have been helped by the benefit, including those who didn't win their battle against cancer.
"That's when it really hit me," the Urbandale native said, even though he didn't know the kids in that first slide show. But "the next year, some of the kids I worked with were up there."
As a result of his work with Dance Marathon, Rice shoved all his science courses into one semester, took the MCAT without studying much, and got in to the UI medical school, he said. Now, he works as a child life assistant at the UI Hospitals and Clinics.
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Lisa Giglio
posted 2/01/07 @ 9:17 PM CST
I'll be heading to Iowa City for my 6th Dance Marathon this weekend, having been involved since my freshman year at Iowa in 2001.
I know both of the amazing men featured in this article, and they are some of the finest representatives Dance Marathon has to offer. (Continued…)
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