For Penn State, the Interfraternity/Panhellenic Council Dance Marathon is over, but for John E. Neely, associate professor of pediatrics, the dancers' efforts will never be forgotten.

Neely is a researcher and doctor in pediatric oncology -- or children's cancer -- at the University's Hershey Medical Center. Without the money the Dance Marathon raises each year for the Four Diamonds Fund, Neely's research would not be possible, and many of his patients would not be able to afford treatment.

"If it weren't for things like the Dance Marathon, the Four Diamonds Fund couldn't help with research or equipment or the special needs of kids with cancer," Neely said. "(The Marathon) is absolutely vital and appreciated beyond words."

Neely gets about $50,000 of the money from each year's marathon for research, supplies, equipment and technicians.

Neely researches how to prevent cancer tumors from resisting chemotherapy.

Some children go through chemotherapy treatment and appear to be cured, but the tumor comes back and resists further chemotherapy, Neely said. If the patient fails to respond to treatment, he or she will die, he added.

His research deals with "kid-type" diseases like leukemia, a common form of children's cancer.

He treats people of any age who have some form of children's cancer and has some patients in their 20s.

"They like to be on the pediatric floor because that's where the fun is,"he said.

Neely enjoys seeing his former patients. Many of them have moved on with their lives, with some graduating from college, marrying and having children.

In addition to lab work, Neely is a member of a national group called the Children's Cancer Study Group, which researches cures for various cancers by directly treating patients with the newest medical innovations.

As a member, Neely can treat patients with the best treatment known today and throughout the world. Thus, he is able to both treat his patients with the best, as well as participate in national studies to test if certain treatments are as good as labs report.

As a result of the group's studies, leukemia has become treatable, Neely said. In the 1960s everyone with leukemia died of the disease, but now 75 percent of victims are cured. In some types of children's cancer, more than 90 percent of the patients are cured, he added.

Neely attributes a lot of Hershey's success to support from the Four Diamonds Fund and the Dance Marathon.

In addition to research purposes, money raised at the marathon allows patients and their families to finance their hospital expenses, Neely said.

Not only does the Four Diamonds Fund cover the medical expenses that insurance does not, it also provides Hershey with money to employ personnel to help children and their families face problems they encounter as they deal with cancer, Neely added.

Most hospitals cannot afford social service people who visit schools, counsel families and even give the families money for gas, medicine or food while they are at Hershey, he said.

A special group called Child Life works at the Center and is trained to know what children need -- to keep the children from getting bored and to help them develop like other children.

"If we didn't have (Child Life), we wouldn't be able to serve our patients nearly as well," Neely said.