Meet Khamoni

Brittney knew of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, but she never thought she’d need it. She’d seen programming about St. Jude on television, and sometimes it would make her cry. “I didn’t know what I would do if my child was in that situation,” Brittney says.

Then, in May 2013, her daughter Khamoni fell and was unable to stand back up. That night, Khamoni was kept awake by pain. “She had never cried like that before, so I knew something was wrong,” says Brittney.

Brittney took Khamoni to the hospital several times before an abnormality was found in her bloodwork. Khamoni was then sent to St. Jude, where she was found to suffer from acute lymphoblastic leukemia. “I just started crying,” says Brittney. “I thought it was something she couldn’t survive.”

But the staff at St. Jude talked with Brittney and eased her fears. “They explained what was going on and how the kids with her type of cancer are doing better than they were before,” she says. In fact, St. Jude has increased the survival rates for acute lymphoblastic leukemia from 4 percent before opening in 1962 to 94 percent today.

At St. Jude, Khamoni was placed on a treatment plan that includes two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy. She’s doing well and is scheduled to finish treatment in early 2016. Khamoni loves to read and write, and to play outside. She even enjoys her visits to the hospital. "My daughter loves going to St. Jude just to play," says Brittany. "She is enjoying life."

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