DM at UF

I’ve just finished my application for Dance Marathon Captain and began to contemplate whether or not another year will be hazardous to my health.

For those of you who don’t know, DM at the University of Florida is a 32-hour endeavor during which hundreds of students stand on their feet. Yes, standing, for 32 hours. I did it last year and regretted doing it for about three weeks, until I came to the conclusion that it may have possibly been one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.

I guess I’m making it out to be worse than it really was. You don’t have to dance for all 32 hours, but you do have to be on your feet. Dance Marathon is a fund raiser for the Children’s Miracle Network and all the money raised at UF goes directly to Shands Children’s Hospital. In 2007 DM at UF raised $362,378.17.

So Dance Marathon really is an amazing cause to be a part of, but is standing for 32 hours dangerous to my health? I’m on a quest to find out.

They have lots of health care at Dance Marathon, a first aid station, foot massages, doctors and nurses on call. A girl on my team last year broke her foot playing basketball (they offer lots of things to do to entertain you into the late hours of the night) and she had to be taken to the emergency room. Another friend of mine had broken her ankle a few months prior to the event and it swelled up to almost the size of a fist after about 20 hours. She had to go to the nurse’s station and actually got to sit for a few hours to get the pressure off of it.

After all these horror stories, DM sounds like an orthopedic nightmare just waiting to happen, doesn’t it? Over 600 University of Florida students left the event unscathed, with just a few cramps in their legs and blisters on their feet. If those are the only sacrifices made for such an amazing amount of money raised, then I say sign me up for one more round.

In this blog I referred to information from floridadm.org.