Seymour High School senior Trent Hohenstreiter feels nothing but happiness and gratitude when he thinks about hospitals, especially one hospital.

“I guess I have a little bit different feelings when I think about (Riley Hospital for Children at Indiana University Health) because of my brother,” he said. “It means a lot to me, because it saved my brother’s life.”

In 2006, Trent’s younger brother, Trey, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 4. He went to Riley weekly for 3½ years before going into remission.

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On Saturday, Trent and others had the opportunity to help Riley through Seymour’s annual dance marathon.

Trent, president of the school’s student government, said he first heard about Riley dance marathons when he participated in one back in middle school at Floyd Central.

“I did it, and I just said, ‘This is something we have to do in Seymour’, and by the time I got into a position to mention it, I found out that one was already planned, so I helped with that my freshman year,” Trent said.

During the five-hour dance marathon, Trent was joined by Seymour faculty, other students and those whose lives have been touched by Riley Hospital for Children.

“Riley means the world to me,” said Jeannie Dickens, one of the parents who spoke at the event.

Dickens’ 5-year-old daughter, River, was diagnosed with a mitochondrial disease, which is an error in the basic structure of her cells that can cause many problems including organ failure.

“We’ve spent birthdays there. River knows the nurses. It’s safe to say without Riley, she wouldn’t be here,” Dickens said.

River attended Saturday night’s dance marathon and said she was looking forward to playing soccer with the high school students and of course dancing.

More than 120 SHS students also attended with 78 purchasing their $15 tickets ahead of time.

The event served as the culmination of the school’s fundraising efforts for Riley this year, which resulted in $23,211.58, significantly more than the dance committee’s goal of $15,000. Last year, students raised about $9,000.

“The community has just been amazing helping us with this,” Trent said.

Student government volunteers and the dance marathon committee set the date for the event last spring and began calling to arrange for food, games and inflatable attractions months ago, all of which were donated by area businesses free of charge, Trent said.

During the marathon, students played games and challenged each other to fundraising activities such as placing students in “jail” and requiring a matching donation to get out and voting for the winner of a lip sync challenge with donations.

“The students are the ones who did it all. They put so much heart into it, and I feel like it’s gotten a little bigger every year,” said Kelly Reasoner, student government adviser.

The event also served as a way for kids who have been to Riley to meet each other.

“It’s been awesome,” said Jenny Ault, mother of 8-year-old Aiden Ault, who attended the event along with his father, Nathan, and 10-year-old sister, Amber.

“It’s been great for Aiden to meet these other kids, some even in high school who have been affected by Riley or were even Riley kids themselves. It’s a way to show him that it’s OK to be a Riley kid, that there’s nothing wrong with him,” Jenny Ault said.

Aiden was born with a heart defect and has, and will continue to have, heart surgeries to keep his heart functioning correctly.

Some of the money raised at the dance marathon will go to help Riley Hospital for Children develop new techniques and procedures to help children and that’s something Jenny Ault said she is happy to support.

“The more they (doctors at Riley) learn, the easier it will be on Aiden. It means fewer surgeries with more time between them,” she said.

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For additional information about Riley Hospital for Children, or to donate, visit rileykids.org/.

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