High fives all around

In May 2015, Trinity just couldn’t shake these unusual bouts of nausea, vomiting and sleepiness. When her pediatrician couldn’t pinpoint a cause, her parents sought a second opinion — and learned Trinity had a mass in the center of her brain, a type of cancer called pineoblastoma. Trinity was referred to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, where she received chemotherapy to shrink the tumor and surgery to remove it, followed by proton radiation therapy and additional chemotherapy.

“I was scared,” admits Trinity’s mom, Sherry, “especially with them saying it was in the center of her brain. My first thought was: Are they going to be able to remove it? But the confidence that the doctors had kept us very calm. When the surgery was over, and we told Trinity when she woke up that her ‘sick spot’ was gone, her eyes opened wide, and she gave everybody the high five in her room.”

Trinity is an independent 5 year old who loves picking out her own clothes and dressing to the nines. Her treatment is ongoing.

Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened more than 50 years ago. St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent, and we won’t stop until no child dies from cancer.