The St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend is the largest single-day fundraiser for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, thanks to the efforts of St. Jude Heroes and those who donate to help St. Jude kids.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Unlike other hospitals, the majority of funding for St. Jude comes from generous donors. In fact, approximately 75 percent of the funds necessary to sustain and grow St. Jude comes from donors and fundraisers who are united in a common goal: Finding cures. Saving children®.
How fundraising helps
Cost to family: $0
Families 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.
Our goal: 100% survival
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.
Saving children everywhere
St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.
Since 2002, nearly 250,000 St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend participants have raised more than $90 million for St. Jude
As a participant, you can become part of the legacy that's allowed St. Jude Heroes to help cover the cost of:
- acute lymphoblastic leukemia treatment for nearly 100 patients
- bone marrow transplants for over 200 children
- 8,000 days in the ICU
- 4,000,000 meals for St. Jude patients
St. Jude patient Santiago, age 3, brain cancer, with his dad
What does being a St. Jude Hero mean to you? Tell us your fundraising story, and we may feature it to inspire other fundraisers.
All St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend participants are given the opportunity to fundraise. While fundraising is not required for general registrants, it's the best way to support the kids of St. Jude. We’ll give you everything you need — simply log in to your participant center after you register, and we’ll guide you from there.
We encourage all participants to meet their fundraising goal by race weekend, but Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum St. Jude Heroes have until January 4, 2021 to raise their committed amount.
Meet some of the kids of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
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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 a type of blood cancer.
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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 Alana
Alana didn't let a cancer diagnosis get in the way of her dreams for the future. Neither did St. Jude.
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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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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.