STUDENTS played carnival-style games all night at Friday’s Up ‘Til Dawn event. They also distributed door prizes and free T-shirts. Photo: Stephanie Sanyour

Friday night, students gathered at the Bell Center to write letters to family and friends for donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to help kids battle cancer.

The event, Up ‘Til Dawn, called for each participant to write 35 letters. In return, they received a free T-shirt, door prizes, nonstop carnival games and entertainment from 7 p.m. until midnight.

The pharmacy fraternity Phi Delta Chi sponsored the event. This is one of its first philanthropy events to engage the entire community to participate.

Executive director Bobby Sbertoli and assistant director Breann Williams, both first-year pharmacy students, organized the student-led, student-run event. They were advised by St. Jude representative and Up ‘Til Dawn advisor Amanda Cahow.

“We need to show that we support these organizations that are so important in the everyday lives of so many people,” Sbertoli said.

After the national fraternity raised nearly $25,000 for St. Jude in two years, Up ‘Til Dawn approached the organization about bringing the event to Drake’s campus.

“Any small amount that we can donate helps a kid at St. Jude,” Williams said.

Nine-year-old St. Jude patient Liam Reinier spoke at the event. Reinier is a myelodysplastic syndrome survivor.

Accompanied by his mother, he came to Drake to speak about his illness and how St. Jude has helped him.

Reinier was misdiagnosed with leukemia at age 3, but was later diagnosed with MDS.

When he was diagnosed, the family was told that “if he fell out of bed that night, he’d bleed to death,” Reinier’s mother said.

Since Reinier only had a 25 percent chance of surviving, the doctors told the family not to treat Reinier and to enjoy the time they had left with him.

The family did not give up, and asked for a referral to St. Jude.

“St. Jude was the only place that talked about survival,” Reinier’s mother said.

Reinier, his brother and his mother moved to the St. Jude in Memphis, Tenn., so he could receive a bone marrow transplant. They lived there for seven months in the spring of 2006. His father and his younger brother had to stay in Iowa so his father could finish college.

St. Jude was a home away from home for the mother and two children. Reinier’s mother said that families get to know the staff very well at St. Jude.

“The doctors and nurses eat with the families, and there is a great sense of community,” she said.

When Reinier turns 8 this December, he will be considered cured.

“We couldn’t have done it without St. Jude,” Reinier’s mother said.