Editor’s Note: This is Dance Marathon Awareness Week, so the Daily profiled two of the participating families. Today we feature the Doll family of Marshalltown.

Dance Marathon lasts only 15 hours, but it helps ease the daily difficulties for parents of children with life-threatening illnesses all year long.

Don and Amy Doll moved to Marshalltown from Texas two years ago with their hemophiliac son, David. One of the things that helped the Dolls’ transition was working with Dance Marathon, Amy said, after her family was sent a letter inviting them to participate.

“I loved it,” Amy said. “We had a really good time. I was really impressed with how much time everyone spent working there. Everyone was so nice.”

Three-year-old David was diagnosed with severe hemophilia when he was 9 months old. He receives treatment at the Children’s Hospital of Iowa.

“I’ve been so impressed with the doctors at Iowa City,” Amy said. “They have always been really helpful.”

Hemophilia is a disorder in which one or more of the plasma proteins needed to form a clot is missing or reduced. When a person with hemophilia is injured, the patient does not bleed faster than normal, but he or she will have prolonged bleeding because he or she cannot make a firm blood clot. Some bleeding episodes occur as a result of injury, but many occur seemingly without cause, according to the Hemophilia Home Page at www.web-depot.com/hemophilia.

None of the other ISU Dance Marathon families have a hemophiliac child, but Amy said it always helps to talk to other families with sick children.

“I was able to talk with parents and share our experiences with different hospitals,” she said. “It was nice.”

When Dance Marathon started, Amy was impressed with the amount of ISU student involvement in the day-long event.

“It was a nice time for the little kids,” she said. “They had balls for the kids to play with, and the students came and played with my son. Then the parents could relax and visit with each other.”

Amy said she also appreciated the personal touch of giving each Dance Marathon child a banner, made only for them, to hang up at the event.

“David’s is hanging in his bedroom,” she said.

Even though Dance Marathon is only one day a year, students and families stay contacted year-round.

This Friday, Dance Marathon committee members and families will be attending “Sesame Street Live” in Des Moines. Amy said David is excited about going to the show.

Whitney Enger, special events co-director, said special events and fund raising for Dance Marathon happens throughout the year.

“We do car washes, mini marathons, a kick-off concert in the fall and a duck race with little plastic ducks,” Enger said. “All the proceeds go toward Dance Marathon.”

On April 17, nearly 20 Dance Marathon committee members will be flipping burgers at all three Ames Burger Kings between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. In return for their time, Burger King is donating 15 percent of the profits during that three-hour period to Dance Marathon.

Dance Marathon members also plan to host mini-marathons at local high schools, including Ankeny High School. The mini-marathons are two hours of dancing with proceeds donated to Children’s Miracle Network.

In October the Dance Marathon kick-off concert will be held in the Maintenance Shop.

“All of these events are really important,” said Enger, senior in apparel merchandising, design and production. “It gets the Dance Marathon name out in the community. Then they’ll know about it and be more willing to donate time through dancing or volunteering.”

All the work raising money for Dance Marathon is worth it when the big day arrives, she said.

“The families are great,” Enger said. “They appreciate the work so much. And when you see them, you can see their happiness in their faces.”