Thon, having raised $137 million in its first 45 years, this year added $10,151,663.93 to that total.

The amount, revealed at the end of the 46-hour dance marathon at the Bryce Jordan Center, surpassed the $10,045,478.44 raised in 2017 . The record was $13.34 million raised in 2014.

Each year, in what is billed as the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, more than 700 Penn State students take to the dance floor for 46 hours, the culmination of a year-long effort to raise money for the Four Diamonds.

The Four Diamonds pays for research into pediatric cancer and annually assists about 600 children and their families who receive treatment for cancer at Penn State Children's Hospital.

One recipient of the aid is Theresa Illicete, a 12-year-old who has been battling a rare form of bone cancer. Her mother, Mary Illicete, told PennLive she believes a medical trial at Hershey is responsible for her daughter's survival. And Thon, she says, has picked up the bills that insurance didn't cover.

"This is a miracle," Mary Illicete said. "People should know about the good they are doing at Hershey. They really are amazing."

For years, one of the main fundraising tools Thon used was canning, in which students would head to intersections across the state on fall weekends to collect contributions from passing motorists. In 2016, the death of a student in a car crash as she returned from a canning trip, convinced organizers to do away with that form of fundraising.

In 2016, that led to a fundraising total of $9.77 million, down from $13.026 million in 2015. But Thon organizers said they new methods of fundraising this year, such as One Day We Will Dance In Celebration campaign in November, in which the goal was to raise $100,000 in one week. Instead, volunteers raised $295,000.