Elizabethtown dancer hopes to help others fighting childhood cancer

An Elizabethtown girl who has successfully battled Hodgkin’s lymphoma is gaining a foothold in efforts to help others who are still fighting childhood cancer.

Cierra McCauley, an 11-year-old student at Rockcreek Elementary School outside of Columbus and a competitive dancer at Sonya’s Dance Zone in Columbus, has launched a dance challenge.

It’s called Dancer Beating Cancer.

Here’s how it works. You record a video of people dancing to music, then post the video on social media using the hashtab, #DancerBeatingCancer. Video makers are encouraged to tag others while making a donation to help fund pediatric research at Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis.

Online donations can be made for $10, $25, $50, $100 — or any amount people wish to give.

So far, the campaign has generated challenge videos from people in Kentucky, Ohio and states as far away as New York and Louisiana.

The Dancer Beating Cancer campaign, which began this month, is a partnership between Cierra and her parents — Mike and Marci McCauley — and the Riley Children’s Foundation.

For every $1 that is raised, $12 in federal grant dollars will go to Riley Children’s Hospital.

The McCauleys would like to see the campaign generate $100,000 for pediatric research.

For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Republic.