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% 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.
Help our families focus on their sick child, not medical bills.
When you donate monthly, your gift means families, like Trinity'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 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 Leah
Leah is a big sister who loves dresses, shopping, singing and helping in the kitchen. In March 2019, she was referred to St. Jude for acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment, which included a transplant with her mother as her donor.
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Meet Elliott
Elliott is social and loves the outdoors. He also loves St. Jude, where he's being treated for leukemia.
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Meet Dahiralis
Dahiralis is a very active little girl who loves to play, jump and run everywhere. At 3 years of age, she was diagnosed with neuroblastoma, a cancerous tumor, and was referred to St. Jude where doctors provided her much-needed treatment and care.
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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 Harmony
Harmony is artistic, detailed-oriented and loves to debate. When she noticed something was wrong on her walks to class, no one expected the cause to be a stage four Wilms tumor.
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Meet Marina
Marina is a joyful 2-year-old who loves to laugh and dance with her siblings. She was referred to St. Jude after a white glimmer in her pupil led to her being diagnosed with retinoblastoma, an eye cancer.
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Meet Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn first came to St. Jude at just over a year old when she was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer. Despite all she’s been through, her smile shines bright.
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Meet Mia
Mia is a friendly, caring child who was referred to St. Jude from her home country of Nicaragua when she was 5 years old. She was diagnosed with anaplastic ependymoma, a malignant tumor in her brain.
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Meet Luis
Like many boys his age, Luis wanted to be a soccer player when he grew up. But then he was diagnosed with cancer. Now he wants to help kids like him.
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Meet Brinley
In 2015, Brinley was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. She was cancer free for more than two years when, in 2019, her family learned the cancer had returned.
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Meet Abraham
After a CT scan revealed Abraham had a mass on his brain, identified as a cancerous brain tumor called a medulloblastoma, his family turned to St. Jude for help.
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How St. Jude patients spent their time during quarantine
While difficult at times, quarantining during COVID-19 has allowed St. Jude patients and their families, while respecting social distance, to let their creativity flourish in ways that has brought them closer together. See how some of our patients spent their time during quarantine.
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Meet Eleanor
Eleanor is a determined baby who arrived at St. Jude on her first birthday. She was diagnosed with down syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia, a type of blood cancer.
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Meet Fletcher
Fletcher is a 12-year-old boy and a huge Cleveland Browns fan. So it was a dream come true when he announced the team's pick in the NFL draft on April 23.