THON is a larger-than-life representation of the positive impact that fraternities and sororities have at Penn State. The largest student-run philanthropy in the world, THON boasts a grand total of $180 million dollars raised by 16,500 student volunteers since its inception in 1973—all focused on fighting
childhood cancer.
We’ve all heard the stories from students about why they dance, and from families affected by cancer, talking about the tremendous support they’ve received because of THON. But today, we are going to hear from three fraternity brothers who have an even more personal connection to THON: they fought childhood cancer and won.
Tucker Haas ’23
The diagnosis: “I was diagnosed in 2002 at the age of two years old. My mom was rocking me to sleep and found a bump behind my right ear that was abnormally large. Within a few days, I’d been diagnosed with undifferentiated sarcoma. I was in treatment from 2002-2007, relapsing four times. I had 77 radiation treatments and hundreds of chemo treatments. I went into remission in February 2007, and hit the 14-year mark this February.”
The THON connection: Tucker says that his first THON should have been in 2003, but he was too sick to go. The next year, he was adopted by an emergency medical service group, but he was very into sports (“and they just kept sending me fire trucks,” he says with a laugh), so his family requested that he be paired with another group. In 2005, he was re-adopted by Alpha Tau Omega and Zeta Tau Alpha … a move that he says saved his life.
“It was just such an awesome experience. ATO has been so impactful in my life and my family’s life. The relationships with ATO’s THON chairs is the reason that I decided to come to Penn State. Every major event in my life, they were there. Every birthday, they were there. Once a year, my parents would rent a huge slip and slide and 30-40 brothers would stay the weekend and we just had a huge party.”
Tucker says that THON, along with ATO and ZTA, are the reason he’s here today. “Cancer makes you grow up fast. We’ve had to make lifelong decisions that other kids don’t have to make. I was dealing with a lot that kids my age didn’t understand. The ATO guys were there for me. They’d tell me, ‘Even if I don’t understand, I know what you are going through isn’t easy.’
He says the ATO brothers made him want to get involved with THON himself. He started out with miniTHON at his high school, Central York. As a freshman, their miniTHON raised $49,000. Tucker kept telling his story, growing the event. By the time he was a senior and co-captain of communications, they raised $143,000.
Pledging to ATO: When he graduated, there wasn’t much question about his next step. He wanted to go to Penn State, and he definitely wanted to pledge to ATO. “I rushed ATO and I immediately wanted to be involved with THON,” he says. He was asked to speak during family hour in 2020 and shared his story in front of 15,000 people. “Four Diamonds, THON, that’s the
reason I’m here.”
Even though last year was ‘very tough’ due to being virtual, he was proud to be on the ATO/ZTA team in 2021. “We raised $320,000, which was the highest of any organization at Penn State. We’ve been the top Greek fundraiser since 1996 and it was great to stay on top.”
The lasting impact of THON and ATO: He says that ATO made a lasting impact on his life. “A lot of kids don’t carry lasting physical effects from their cancer, but I do, and that was really hard growing up. Kids saw me as ‘the kid with cancer.’ THON really helped me with that. It was nice to have older people, college kids, who could see beyond that.”
Because of the tremendous impact that ATO brothers had on his childhood, it’s hard for him to hear people give fraternities a bad rap.
“It’s very tough when people are negative. Yes, bad things may go on, but I’ve had a very different experience. The reason I am alive today is because of PSU Greek life and ATO. The reason I am walking on this earth today is because of ATO—it has saved my life. I wouldn’t be the person I am today without them, and it hurts me when I hear bad things. There is so much good stuff coming out of fraternities and sororities that is going unnoticed.”
Note: This is part 1 of a 2 part series. A story about Robbie Schweitzer will appear in the next issue of Gamma Gab and e-letter.