For Jason Richter, the Saint Marys University Taylor Richmond Benefit Dance this year will be a new experience.
Richter, one of the founding staff organizers of the first benefit in 2001, had always been on the other end of the event, helping students plan and raise funds for those selected. But at Saturdays dance, Richter will be the guest of honor and the beneficiary of the funds raised.
I worked on the benefit for 10 years and helped people in need, he said. Its a weird feeling to be on both sides of the benefit.
Richter, an SMU alumnus, worked in the student life office from 1998 until 2010. He helped organize the first benefit dance when students approached him about Taylor Richmond and his struggle with ataxia telangiectasia, a rare genetic condition that affects the nervous and immune systems.
The students wanted to support and raise money for Richmond and his parents, who were both SMU staff at the time. The idea of a benefit dance was brought up and has become an annual tradition, helping people with ties to the SMU community each year.
I told them it sounded like a good idea, Richter said. Since then, its always gotten bigger and bigger, adding theyve always found someone in need.
This year, Richter is that person in need. Students, faculty and staff nominated him for this years benefit after they learned of his battle with cancer.
Last spring, Richter started noticing back problems and pain. By May he had lost all feeling and movement in his legs. The doctors found a mass in his back pushing on his spinal column. Diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a type of blood cancer, Richter underwent 10 sessions of radiation treatment.
Then, during followups, doctors noticed the cancer had spread.
It had reached his hips, back and vertebrae and had gotten into his bone marrow. The treatment for that was stem cell therapy. Doctors killed his bone marrow, then harvested the healthy stem cells when they started to grow back. They took the cells, cleaned them, then gave them back to Richter to help him recover faster.
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View from the other side: Organizer of benefit to be beneficiary this year after cancer battle