Thanks in part to a $650,000 gift from University of Iowa Dance Marathon, the UI’s largest student organization, the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital is installing a new, state-of-the-art 3 Tesla MRI machine. The imaging equipment, which cost a total of $3 million, will serve pediatric cancer patients as well as many other patients treated at the hospital. This is the first project funded by UI Dance Marathon to help not only pediatric cancer patients but a larger patient population.
UI Dance Marathon is a student-run philanthropy that creates and sustains special projects to provide emotional and financial support for pediatric oncology and bone-marrow-transplant patients and their families cared for at UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. UI Dance Marathon hosts an annual Big Event where students come together for 24 straight hours to raise awareness for pediatric cancer. Dancers are required to raise a minimum of $500 in order to participate. Over 24 years, UI Dance Marathon has raised a total of $24,548,226 for the kids.