Those are our daily lessons from the remarkable patients at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and there’s no better teacher than Kate who is deservedly featured in this powerful story from our partner, CBS Sports.
NFL fans, we recommend it for extraordinary pre-game inspiration. But Kate’s message transcends sports and poignantly illustrates what donors are making happen at St. Jude. Hers is more than a personal story. It’s the St. Jude story our founder, Danny Thomas, must have envisioned 55 years ago when the doors of St. Jude opened.
Spoiler alert: Kate wins.
Help our families focus on their sick child, not medical bills.
When you donate monthly, your gift means families, like Kate's, never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.
Meet more patients
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Meet Gabe
When the lights on the tree hurt Gabe’s eyes last Christmas, his mom knew something was wrong.
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Meet Gracie
Gracie was eight months old when she was diagnosed with blood cancer. She underwent chemotherapy and physical, occupational and speech therapies at St. Jude.
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Meet Melanie
When Melanie was diagnosed with brain cancer and referred to St. Jude, she wasn’t nervous. She was actually looking forward to treatment — chemotherapy, proton therapy and visits from St. Jude therapy dog Huckleberry — because to Melanie, St. Jude meant getting well again.
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Meet Tina
Tina was referred to St. Jude after she was found to have a brain tumor. St. Jude has given her family hope.
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Meet Scarlet
At St. Jude, Scarlet and her mom lived at Target House for half a year while Scarlet was in treatment for acute myeloid leukemia. Her family never received a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food. .
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Meet Lydia
Lydia has an unusual hobby for a kid her age: reading scholarly articles in medical journals. But not just any articles. She’s interested in those authored by Dr. Gajjar, the man – along with nurses and researchers and others at St. Jude – working to save her life.
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Meet Calvin
At St. Jude, Calvin underwent chemotherapy, proton therapy and radiation treatments for rhabdomyosarcoma, a cancer of the soft tissue. He continues to receive treatment at St. Jude, having experienced a recurrence of cancer in 2020.
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Meet Colton
Colton is a 12-year-old who's used to being active in every area of life. And while an aggressive form of kidney cancer might have threatened that, St. Jude was right by his side.
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Meet Twila
Twila was brought to her local hospital for an ear infection. When the pain didn’t resolve, doctors ran tests and found brain cancer. She was referred to St. Jude and placed on a treatment plan.
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Meet Keeton
Six-year-old Keeton hasn’t let cancer slow him down. Find out what St. Jude means to Keeton's family.
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Meet Riku
While treatment for medulloblastoma is a difficult journey for 4-year-old Riku, his parents, Noriko and Jun, are there to give him strength and support along the way.
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Meet Pepe
Pepe and his family have known cancer more intimately than most families. Watch their journey in this 4-part series, and how they found hope through it all.
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Meet Patient Mikayla
Over Christmas 2020, something was wrong with then one-year-old Mikayla. Referred to St. Jude, her cancer was identified as acute myeloid leukemia. Mikayla successfully underwent chemotherapy.
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Meet Imani
Imani was diagnosed with cancer at 5 weeks old. Her family feared the worst. But at St. Jude, there was hope for her future.
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Meet Aspen
Aspen was not yet two when diagnosed with neuroblastoma. She was treated in the Philippines but six months later, the cancer was spreading so she was referred to St. Jude.