Students and alumni gathered Friday at the Delta Delta Delta sorority house to pay tribute to former University student Amanda Judice by supporting students with life-threatening diseases.
Judice was a sophomore at the University before losing a long fight with aplastic anemia Feb. 9. Friday’s blood and bone marrow drive, called “Give HOPE. Give LOVE. Give LIFE.,” was held in memory of Judice and also honored and supported two other University students dealing with diseases.
Allison Steritt, a member of Tri-Delt, is battling lymphoma, and Hayes Berthelot, member of Sigma Nu fraternity, has leukemia.
The event also benefited Anna James Bourgeois, Preston Heath and Jessica Melchor, three Baton Rouge St. Jude’s patients, according to the “Give HOPE. Give LOVE. Give LIFE.” website.
Tri-Delt holds blood drives every year. The sorority decided to tag on a bone marrow registry to this fall’s blood drive, said Kathleen Hoffman, kinesiology senior and Tri-Delt member.
The event drew 500 people to join the bone marrow registry and collected about 60 units of blood, Hoffman said.
“Since this isn’t our [official] philanthropy, we didn’t have a budget,” Hoffman said. “We received almost $600 in donations from our alums, mother’s club, different parents and businesses in the community.”
Judice was diagnosed in January 2009. She went through two cycles of anti-thymocyte globulin treatment, or ATG, which is a type of chemotherapy. She received blood transfusions weekly, which amounted to almost 200 transfusions overall, said Katherine Judice, Amanda’s sister and 2006 University alumna.
“It was so unreal to know how severe it can be,” Katherine Judice said. “You never imagine it happening to someone so close to you.”
The loss of Amanda has been hard on everyone and is still fresh in people’s minds, said Ashton Despot, graphic design senior and Tri-Delt member.
“Even though it’s still hard for all of us, it’s our senior year, and we really wanted to do this,” Despot said.
Despot said Amanda Judice was the type of person who “left an amazing impression on people she met.”
“You could’ve met her once, and you would want to help make this event happen for her,” Despot said.
Berthelot was a freshman at the University when he was diagnosed with two types of leukemia, said Michelle Whitney, kinesiology sophomore and close family friend.
“Hayes was diagnosed with [acute lymphoid leukemia] and [acute myeloid leukemia],” Whitney said.
Only 5 percent of cancer cases are diagnosed as leukemia, and only 4 percent of that 5 percent have both types, Whitney said.
Berthelot received a bone marrow transplant early last week and will soon know if it was successful, she said.
Berthelot’s white blood cell count has been rising since Friday, Whitney said.
Berthelot has told many of his friends he cannot wait to return to school, Whitney added.
Sigma Nu, as well as several other sororities, had a huge hand in putting on this event, Despot said.
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Contact Kayla DuBos at [email protected]