Connections to Riley Hospital motivate IUDM dancers

IU Dance Marathon boasts a “For the Kids” mentality.

Now, 21 years after the first dance marathon, some students who received medical attention from the Riley Hospital for Children now participate as dancers.

Matt Parmenter, a freshman in Phi Gamma Delta who raised more money than any other dancer, is a Riley kid. This year he danced with his pledge class.

“My sophomore year of high school, I got blindsided by an illness, and I spent five days in a Bloomington hospital and got transported to Riley Hospital, where I was treated on an outpatient basis,” Parmenter said.

After several rounds of testing, Parmenter was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, an autoimmune disorder that affects the intestines, causing intense pain.

“After eating a bad taco at school, about three weeks later, I had the worst pain I’ve had in my life,” he said.

Charlie Chamness, a freshman in Beta Theta Pi, grew up involved with Riley. When he was in sixth grade, his younger brother, Joey, was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer.

“His spot was, like, right here,” Charlie Chamness said, pointing just above his left knee. “In his left leg, femur.”

Charlie Chamness was 13 at the time and said he clearly remembers the experience.
“My parents sat our family down, and it was a rainy night,” he said with a laugh. “I remember it. But they sat us down and basically said, you know, Joey has cancer. And at the time, you hear a lot about cancer, but you don’t really know exactly what it means.”
Charlie Chamness said that meaning became clear.

“I just thought it was, oh, like, Joey’s sick right now, or he’s got a bad disease, but I didn’t realize what (chemotherapy) meant, that you lose your hair, that you feel like shit for as long as you’re on it,” he said. “I mean ... you can’t be a normal kid.”

Charlie Chamness said watching his brother battle cancer was hard on the entire family.

“Physically, you’re drained,” he said. “Emotionally, you’re drained. Your whole life is altered and changed in a matter of weeks.”

In 2006, about a year after his diagnosis, Joey Chamness was cancer-free, and Charlie Chamness said he’s recovered well and is even playing sports again.

Joey Chamness came to watch his brother start his shift for IUDM on Saturday night. He said he remembered his stay at Riley and the extra steps his family took to ensure he had a comfortable stay.

“When you’re in the hospital, it’s kind of long, getting chemo treatments,” Joey Chamness said. “Like, you’ll be in a hospital bed for, like, two hours, and they’ll keep you entertained. I know there’s a candy guy that would come around, and that was always a lot of fun.”

Parmenter said he had a strong connection with his doctor at Riley.

 “Just the staff is really cool, and (my doctor was) kind of a younger doctor, and it was kind of cool to be able to connect with him and talk about college,” he said.

Charlie Chamness said his family also kept in touch with the nurses who cared for his brother.

“We’ve kind of fallen out of a contact with the nurses now,” he said. “But a year or two after, we’d come back and see all the nurses that cared for Joey. They made it a family atmosphere on the floor.”

Parmenter said he is studying nutrition science and hoping to go to medical school, partially as a result of his illness and time at Riley.

Parmenter said most of the lasting effects from his experience came from seeing other kids at the hospital.

“There were a lot of babies that came in sick, and they couldn’t really eat anything,” he said. “I had some restrictions, I still do, on my diet, but there’s kids up there that can’t even eat any solid food.”

Both Charlie Chamness and Parmenter said they carried these stories with them into the dance as motivation to get through the long hours.

Charlie Chamness said he did IUDM as a good opportunity to bond with his new fraternity brothers and to help the cause.

“From what I’ve heard, it’s one of the most bonding experiences you can have with your pledge class, and at the same time, the cause you’re doing is unreal,” he said.

Charlie Chamness said he thought having such a strong connection to the cause would help him to keep going, even when he grew tired.

“Every time you get tired or your feet start to hurt or whatever, just think, ‘Well, I could have cancer,’” he said.