As we prepare for Thanksgiving and look ahead to the holiday season, I'm reminded of the many blessings in my life. Among the greatest of these are amazingly caring people like you who do so much to support the mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Because you care, children, like Gunnar, are receiving vital treatment at St. Jude. When he was just 8 months old, Gunnar was diagnosed with the soft tissue cancer called rhabdomyosarcoma. His treatment plan includes chemotherapy and proton therapy at St. Jude, where we have the St. Jude Red Frog Events Proton Therapy Center, the world’s first proton therapy center dedicated solely to children.
And thanks to your generosity, families, like Gunnar’s, never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. At St. Jude, we believe all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
During this holiday season, one way you can give thanks is through the St. Jude Thanks and Giving campaign, which unites more than 70 major brands in fundraising for our mission: Finding cures. Saving children.® This campaign, which continues through the month of December, offers many opportunities to support the kids of St. Jude, including donations at the register and special items for purchase all to provide the funds that help us care for St. Jude patients and their families. I'm personally so grateful to all of the partners who participate in this campaign and to the shoppers who have embraced this time of year to give back by supporting St. Jude.
I'm also incredibly moved by the number of you who will take part in our largest one-day fundraising event on December 3 — the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend. It's an amazing sight — and means so much to our St. Jude families — when more than 20,000 of you take to the streets of Memphis and run through the St. Jude campus, proudly wearing your St. Jude Hero shirts as you make each mile count for the kids of St. Jude.
I'm so honored each year to meet these St. Jude Heroes who willingly give their time to raise funds, train and run to help children who are bravely fighting for their lives.
By supporting the mission of St. Jude, each and every one of you truly become part of the St. Jude family. I thank you for your incredible generosity and wish you a very Happy Thanksgiving and a blessed holiday season.
You, too, can make a difference for St. Jude kids.
-
Working together: Mother and daughter nurses bond at St. Jude
In observance of Mother’s Day May 13 and National Nurses Week May 6–12, St. Jude nurses Margie and Kallen Kjellin share their story.
-
Administrative professionals provide dedicated support to St. Jude departments
The more than 150 administrative professionals at St. Jude offer unparalleled support to keep their departments running smoothly. Three longtime admins share their stories.
-
Wrestling for a cure
One small community of wrestlers in Springfield, Ill., is showing that their hearts are bigger than their muscles, and they’re putting them to good use raising funds for St. Jude.
-
St. Jude soul sisters
When four mothers learned that their children had been diagnosed with cancer, they found hope in each other and in St. Jude, the hospital that worked to save their children's lives.
-
MRI technologist is inspired throughout career at St. Jude
With a strong support system of women in her life, Mary Jo Freeman has advanced from a hopeful student to a seasoned MRI specialist. Find out about her journey at St. Jude.
-
Dr. Sheila Moore on breaking barriers and giving back
Sheila Moore, MD, began her medical career at a time when men dominated the field. More than five decades later, she reflects on her barrier-breaking career as a pediatric hematologist-oncologist in the South.
-
Do what you put your mind to
Tangie Thomas, VP of Clinical Operations, talks about persistence and motivation in her career.
-
Losing my best friend to cancer led me to a career in science
Research Tech Hailey Skonhovd honors her childhood friend’s memory by pursuing a scientific career.
-
Moving science forward
Inspired by female scientists, Shondra Miller, PhD, is focused on pushing science’s boundaries.
-
A volunteer for life
2017 Volunteer of the Year Award winner Eddie Ramos has devoted countless hours to continuing the lifesaving mission of St. Jude.
-
In this together
Thirteen St. Jude Heroes® are in step with the most compelling reasons — they'll run for St. Jude kids at the 2018 Boston Marathon.
-
St. Jude signs on as Seattle race title sponsor
For the 2018 Seattle Marathon, runners will have even more of a reason to run their hearts out, namely for the kids of St. Jude.
-
Rounding up funds for St. Jude
Doug Yates has been raising funds for the kids of St. Jude through a three-day festival held at his farm in Ringgold, Ga.
-
Riding for a reason: From St. Jude supporter to St. Jude mom
Cycle instructor Jamie rallied to raise funds for St. Jude, not knowing her daughter would soon become a patient.
-
Operation Bunny Hop
Jen Clark created a sweet surprise for St. Jude kids — a very special delivery of 550 Easter baskets — to share the springtime hoppy-ness.
