DANVILLE – When friends of 16-year-old Emily Shouse of Danville learned she would have to undergo another round of chemotherapy for a rare form of cancer, they wanted to do something to help.

They joined forces to organize a poker run and concert to help the family offset their traveling expenses to and from a Peoria hospital.

The Emily Shouse Poker Run Benefit will be held from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday. Registration is at 11 a.m. at Gutterridge Harley Davidson, 1606 Georgetown Road, Tilton.

The fee is $10. It includes a poker hand, spirit band, food and entrance to the Blanche Tally concert at 6 p.m. at the I&I State Line Tavern, 4015 E. Main St., Danville.

The ride will begin at noon. Stops include Julee's Shooting Star, 109 W. Main St., Westville; St. Bernice's Tavern, also called "Red's," 3085 W. Broadway St., St. Bernice, Ind.; Brenda's Pop A Top, 108 N. Division St., Cayuga, Ind.; and Bar Noble, 308 W. Liberty St., Covington. The I&I is the last stop.

"We'll have food, raffles, a 50-50 raffle and the band," organizer Shannon LaBounty said.

If people don't want to go on the ride, LaBounty said, they can show up at the I&I for the concert. Doors will open at 5 p.m., and a $5 donation will be taken at the door.

Emily is a student at Danville High School, where she is a member of the Band of Vikings. She's also in the First Presbyterian Church youth group.

In February, Emily was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia, LaBounty said. She added the teen has been out of school since then to undergo treatment at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Peoria.

"She just started her fifth round of chemotherapy" Thursday, LaBounty said, adding that she'll be there for four days, as long as there are no complications. Following treatment, LaBounty added, the teen will have about 1 1/2 years of "maintenance" requiring a lot of trips to the Peoria hospital.

Emily's parents – Dave Shouse, who works at Ball Corporation in Danville, and Lori Shouse, who quit her job at a local chiropractor's office to care for her daughter – will take turns taking their daughter back and forth.

"It's hard when you have two other kids at home," LaBounty said, adding the couple have two younger sons, Grayson and Ryan. "We just wanted to do something to help. I've just never met a family who's never asked for anything from anybody."

LaBounty said a number of people, including Linnette and Roger Gutterridge and Jeff and Missy Miller, helped organize the benefit. She said Blanche Tally, whose members are friends with the Shouses, are donating their performance.

LaBounty said the weather forecast looks great, so she hopes to have a large turnout. While Emily and her parents will be in Peoria, her uncle, aunt, grandma and step-grandfather and "tons" of friends will be there.

LaBounty said that friends established the Emily Shouse Benefit Fund at First Financial Bank in Danville. Those who can't attend but would like to help out can send a donation there.

More information is available on a Facebook page at http://bit.ly/aTmobF.