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.
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Perspective from the courtside
USA Pickleball Association President Jack Thomas knows the good work of USAPA’s designated charity, St. Jude. His grandson was a patient.
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Flipping for St. Jude
Brianna was inspired by a television commercial for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to lead a Push-up/Pull-up Challenge fundraiser at her school.
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Generations of giving
This multi-generational family is devoted to raising money for St. Jude. Find out the many ways they are giving back.
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Emily's pledge
Former patient Emily is taking a major step in her life, by attending college and pledging to both to Tri Delta and St. Jude.
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Serving aces for St. Jude
Every year a Mississippi tennis tournament honors children who have battled childhood cancer by raising funds for St. Jude."
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Backyard Talent Show
A group of kids is showing the world that fundraising for St. Jude doesn’t have to be left up to the adults through the wildly successful Backyard Talent Show.
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Sickle cell disease education and support help Jayden excel
Jayden's care team at St. Jude is helping him manage and understand his sickle cell disease. Learn more
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Scan-tastic! St. Jude helps Zara succeed
St. Jude child life specialists help patients understand the MRI scanning process to make it easier for them, and some patients are able to stay still enough for scans that anesthesia isn't needed.
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Teen climbs new heights after bone cancer
Doctors at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital were able to save Micah Winkle's leg from bone cancer, but it was up to the teen to discover alternatives to the contact sports he had played before his cancer diagnosis. Find out more.
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Limiting the side effects of treatment: Proton Therapy provides focused radiation
St. Jude has the world’s first proton therapy center dedicated to childhood cancer. Patients come from all over to receive treatment. One such patient is Brianna Gonzales.
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Journey to the Jude: Lyudmila Tsurkan, PhD, Hematology, Kazakhstan
St. Jude lead researcher Lyudmila Tsurkan of Hematology smiles when recalling her childhood in the central Asian nation of Kazakhstan.
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Journey to the Jude: Augustine Ntah, Security, Cameroon
Ntah said his welcoming personality stems from his heritage, of which he is immensely proud. He thinks of St. Jude as an extension of his homeland, the central African country of Cameroon.
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Journey to the Jude: Besian Sejdiu, Structural Biology, Kosovo
Sejdiu is proud to serve an organization that is a locally, nationally and internationally respected driving force in research, pediatrics and employee recruitment.
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Veteran mechanic reflects on fatherhood, St. Jude experiences
Former U.S. Army diesel mechanic Dennis Hart has served four years as a maintenance mechanic at St. Jude and says he loves working here because of the positive atmosphere.
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St. Jude kindergarteners celebrate resilience and recess at 2023 graduation
In the 15th year of kindergarten graduations, St. Jude Imagine Academy by Chili’s kindergarteners were honored as part of a virtual ceremony.