DM 2012 will benefit critically ill children and their families

The Andrew McDonough B+ (Be Positive) Foundation will be the primary beneficiary at the 2012 Northwestern University Dance Marathon, the organization announced Friday.

The Foundation benefits families of children who are critically ill, according to its website. It operates in memory of Andrew McDonough, a 14-year-old who died in 2007 after a sudden cardiac arrest led to a diagnosis of leukemia and sepsis, according to its website.

“The energy and spirit that the B+ Foundation exudes is truly inspirational,” said Kunal Joshi, 2012 NUDM co-chair, in a news release. “In honoring the memory of Andrew McDonough and by selecting the B+ Foundation as our primary beneficiary, we know that we are making real strides in making childhood cancer a thing of the past – I could not be more excited.”

McDonough’s blood type was B+, leading to his motto, “Be positive,” according to the release.

For the event, NU students team up or participate as partners in a 30-hour dance party on campus. Each pair raises $800 or more for the cause. Local businesses help fundraise, too, by offering in-kind donations.

In 2011, NUDM raised more than $1 million in funds and in-kind donations for its primary beneficiary, The Children’s Heart Foundation, and the Evanston Community Foundation, which will be DM’s secondary beneficiary for the 15th consecutive year, according to the release.

“It means so much to us that the students of Northwestern would select the B+ Foundation and support our mission to fight childhood cancer,” said Joe McDonough, Andrew’s father and the organization’s president, in the statement.

In addition to directly providing donations to families of children struggling with cancer, the foundation actively supports research and new technology by investing in funding those efforts, according to the release.

At the conclusion of the 2011 Dance Marathon, Megan Van Pelt, the board president of The Children’s Heart Foundation, which helps fund research on congenital defects in children, expressed her gratitude to the NU students.

“We’re absolutely blown away,” Van Pelt said. “Thank you. I don’t know if everyone realizes the impact it will have for decades to come.”