Four-year-old Shekinah is a cheerful girl who is always looking for an opportunity to play with her siblings.
“She’s a very happy girl,” said her mother, Jaimes. “She loves Peppa Pig and all things pink and purple.” But during the early part of 2017, Shekinah suddenly stopped being so active and began to suffer from frequent headaches.
Worried, her mom decided to schedule an appointment with their local physician. After multiple visits to the pediatrician without a definitive answer, Shekinah’s mom took her to a local hospital, where doctors conducted a CT scan. Within hours, the cause of Shekinah’s symptoms was discovered: she suffered from a cancerous brain tumor called medulloblastoma.
St. Jude is a blessing. It doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from, St. Jude will take care of you.
After undergoing an emergency surgery to remove the tumor, Shekinah and her family were sent to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for her continuing treatment and care.
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90%, and we won’t stop until no child dies from cancer.
Within hours, Shekinah’s parents knew they had come to the right place.
St. Jude patient Shekinah is known for her playfulness.
At St. Jude, Shekinah began a treatment protocol that included chemotherapy and radiation therapy, all at no cost to her parents. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — because we believe all they should worry about is helping their child live.
Today, Shekinah is finished with treatment and returns to the hospital for regular checkup appointments. Her family is grateful for everything St. Jude has done for them.
“It’s all been such a blessing,” Jaimes said. “Knowing that we won’t ever receive a bill is tremendous. Every donation to St. Jude is important because it’s helping so many children, including my daughter.”
Help our families focus on their sick child, not medical bills.
When you donate monthly, your gift means families, like Shekinah'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.
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