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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