Kalee Eichelberger was a miracle child.
In 2010, she was diagnosed with a systemically overactive immune condition, in which her immune system attacks her organs.
On Saturday, the now-21-year-old UF nutritional science junior participated with more than 1,000 others at the 22nd annual Dance Marathon.
“I’ve kind of gotten to know Dance Marathon from the inside out,” she said.
In the last of the 26.2 hours of DM, the crowd cheered as participants revealed they raised $2,434,315.18 at 3 p.m. Sunday. For the event, UF teams danced to raise money for children with illnesses, called miracle children, through the Children’s Miracle Network.
Armani Abreu, an overall director of DM, said he enjoyed seeing the families of the miracle children.
“Seeing their faces, seeing their reactions, it’s just a rewarding feeling,” the 21-year-old UF political science senior said.
Abreu said more than 70 miracle families attended the event and met with the students, who helped raise money.
Barbie Diaz, a former miracle child and a Spanish and neurobiological sciences senior, attended with Eichelberger.
Diaz said she grew up healthy. But at 18, she suffered from a stroke, which resulted in a car crash.
Since then, her life has been riddled with medication, chemotherapy and hospital rooms.
“My goal is to make sure that the kids know that there’s still hope,” the now-23-year-old said. “I got my second chance. They’ll get their second chance.”
Contact Melissa Gomez at mgomez@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter @MelissaGomez004.
