Seven-year-old Victoria Smith loves the sound of laughter -- her own and others.
To keep everyone around her laughing, Victoria likes to fake-sneeze. She can fake cough, too.
"When you laugh, it eggs her on even more," her mother said Wednesday night. "She has a great sense of humor."
She also loves fart noises and playing with her whoopee cushion.
"She's very ladylike -- that's something to be proud of as her father," said Matt Smith, joking.
With long blonde hair and a toothy smile, she doesn't look like some of the other Four Diamonds Fund children.
A month before the Interfraternity/Panhellenic Council Dance Marathon, the Smith's are living proof that "Love Belongs Here." The State College family is finally returning to their normal lives almost two years after Victoria's final chemotherapy treatment.
Not too far from the Bryce Jordan Center, Victoria lives with her mother, Stephanie Smith, her father, Matt Smith, and their dog, Samuel. Like most second graders, she has an imaginary friend named Charlie and an evil twin "Tori," whom she blames when things go wrong. Between swimming and horseback riding therapy, Victoria keeps active.
But Victoria stands out from the rest of her second grade class.
Since she was born, Victoria has been in and out of the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. Born with multiple medical issues and later found to have cerebral palsy, she was first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at the age of 3. Though she has a lot to say and do, she uses a wheelchair and her speech is limited.
"I think she's the strongest person," Stephanie said. "I want to be like her when I grow up. She's my hero. She went through such a rough thing with such grace."
Five days before Christmas in 2005, the Smiths received the news. After doctors had initially told her family that she didn't have cancer, a bone marrow test proved otherwise.
For the next two-and-a-half years, the Smiths lived at the whims of her treatments -- they never knew where they would be in the next six hours. The family always kept their bags packed and five gallons of gasoline in the garage in case they had to make an emergency trip to the hospital. And it wasn't unusual for the family to make the two-hour drive home from the hospital, just to have to turn around and go back.
One time when the family was at the hospital, a worker told Stephanie about the Four Diamonds Fund. But she said she already knew what it was.
"Matt and I had both went to Penn State," she said. "We never thought in a million years that we would be on this side."
Both locals, Stephanie and Matt started dating in high school, graduating together from Penn State in 1994. One year later, they married.
"What we are all about is our pride in Penn State -- being from State College, being alums of both State College and PSU," Stephanie said.
In 2006, Victoria spent her first THON in a hospital room. The family watched the event live on the Internet, but they had one complaint -- they couldn't find their Atlas THON dancers in the crowded Rec Hall. That's when Stephanie came up with the idea Atlas THON should wear furry hats that matched one of Victoria's.
So at THON 2008, the now-famous furry pink hats premiered.
As avid Penn State football fans, the Smiths noticed Atlas THON wearing the hats on the last home football game of the 2009 season. And as the group's first Four Diamonds family, the Smiths said the students have really gone above and beyond for them.
"Atlas is really a part of our family," Stephanie said. "They come over for dinners, birthday parties -- they're there every step of the way, and we're just so thankful."
Both Matt's and Stephanie's families stepped in to help while their life was turned upside down. Victoria's grandmothers both took turns staying with her in the hospital, and Matt's father would go to their house in the morning and get their mail and the paper. Other neighbors or relatives would help with shoveling the sidewalks when it snowed or mowing the grass when it got too long.
But the Smiths said they are glad those days are over.
As their lives return to normal, they've gotten into a daily routine. Victoria is in elementary school again, and both parents have returned to work. They only make trips to the oncologist about once a month now.
Stephanie said she is even considering going to nursing school because of the great care her daughter received at Hershey.
Victoria hasn't undergone any chemotherapy treatments in a year and can even eat solid food again -- something that her parents said is impressive.
And, she'll eat just about anything. She even took on an all-you-can-eat seafood platter with her dad once, which isn't surprising since Victoria is fond of sitting on the beach, listening to waves crash onto the shore -- particularly Rehoboth Beach. There, the Smiths go to Assateague Island, where there are wild ponies for Victoria to enjoy.
Looking back on everything, Stephanie said THON has gotten her family through it.
"They do it because they want to, not because they have to," she said. "They're standing out in freezing rain and doing it with smiles on their faces. THON made a very undesirable, unimaginable situation more human -- it's people doing things to help out others."
