When Audrey was six months pregnant, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital tested her to determine whether her unborn daughter, Courtney, would be born with sickle cell disease. The disease had killed Audrey’s nephew, and the memories of the pain he suffered haunted her.
The tests on Courtney came back positive for sickle cell disease, an inherited blood disorder that causes red blood cells to become hard and sickle-shaped, instead of soft and round.
Children and adults with the disease may experience symptoms that range from severe pain to strokes, pneumonia, organ damage or death.
When Courtney was 2 months old, St. Jude doctors started her on drug treatment. She takes hydroxyurea, a medication that causes the body to produce healthy cells. Courtney, who visits St. Jude monthly, is thriving.
She loves to act, sing, design clothes and dance.
Help give hope to kids like Courtney who are fighting life-threatening illnesses. Become a Partner In Hope monthly donor today.
Meet more patients
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Meet Londyn
When Londyn’s parents, Anthony and Kascie, learned she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a type of blood cancer, they turned to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® for her care.
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Meet Janie
Janie has experienced a lot while undergoing treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Luckily she has her family — and St. Jude — to crawl with her every step of the way.
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Meet Iris
St. Jude patient Iris has always loved riding horses and wasn't going to let a brain tumor called craniopharyngioma stop her.
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Giving cancer a karate chop
St. Jude patient Zoë is kicking, punching and blocking her way through treatment for a rare brain tumor.
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Meet Charley
Charley led her college fundraising team for St. Jude just months before she became a patient there herself.
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Silly siblings
Griffin likes to play baseball and basketball with his twin brother, Graham, and their older siblings. But things weren’t all fun and games when Griffin’s family found out he had a rare type of cancer. They quickly turned to St. Jude for help.
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Meet Jace
Jace always has an ear-to-ear grin, even the midst of treatment for a spinal tumor.
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Kadie's proposal
Former patient Kadie had her life transformed by cancer. Little did she know that her future would be changed with a proposal at the place that saved her life.
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Braving the unknown
Eight-year-old Stella Grace and her family had been participating in St. Jude events for years. But when she became a patient, St. Jude took on a new meaning.
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A spunky supporter
Before Ellee and her family found themselves at St. Jude, she was raising money, one lap at a time, for kids just like her.
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Gideon is home for the holidays
Two-year-old Gideon will celebrate the holidays at home for the first time, after spending two Christmases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for treatment of stage 4, high-risk neuroblastoma.
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Super trouper
Dawson is a strong, athletic kid. On Super Bowl Sunday in 2016, his parents received news that would change their lives — Dawson had cancer.
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Meet Shekinah
Four-year-old Shekinah is full of cheer and playfulness, even in the midst of the discovery of a brain tumor in early 2017.
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Meet Nathan
In 2016, just 10 days after Nathan was born, he was found to have cancer. Instead of spending Christmas at home, they found themselves at St. Jude.
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Kate's letter to her future self
St. Jude patient Kate recently stepped into the spotlight when she announced a Chicago Bears' second-round draft pick during the NFL draft.
