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We’re grateful for: 'St. Jude DJ' Van Johnson, who gives fundraisers in Nevada a joyful soundtrack
It was a date night for Van Johnson and Kristal Vega, but she had somewhere to be — a Las Vegas fundraising gala for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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We're grateful for: Zach Meadows, a former patient whose St. Jude experience inspires his students
On his first day as a teacher at Lashmeet Matoaka Elementary School in Princeton, West Virginia, Zach Meadows introduced himself to a bunch of fifth graders.
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We’re grateful for: Tony DeVary, a St. Jude survivor inspired to make a career out of helping others
Tony DeVary was 3, going on 4, when he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma. It was at the most advanced stage and doctors in his hometown said there was little hope. But there was hope — at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
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We're grateful for Joe Farris, the St. Jude Santa who brought joy to generations of patients
Joe Farris loved Christmas, and he loved kids. What that love looked like in action was this: for more than half a century, Joe faithfully brought Christmas cheer to St. Jude patients not once but twice a year, in July and December.
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We’re grateful for: Jerry Thompson and his sister Theresa for sharing their mountain with St. Jude
In the middle of the Saddle Up for St. Jude trail ride in Maui, Hawaii, Theresa Thompson will fill with a kind of happiness that’s almost spiritual, “like church.”
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We’re grateful for: Elise, the little girl who inspired a college basketball team
When Iowa State University women’s basketball coach Bill Fennelly was diagnosed with cancer in 2011, a patient at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital offered up some advice. It was 5-year-old Elise, who had become an honorary member of the Cyclones — and had faced cancer herself a year earlier.
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We’re grateful for: Jared Isaacman, who’s been to the stars and back to help St. Jude
Ask Jared Isaacman what’s the most amazing place he’s been this year and he’ll surely say: Space.
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We're grateful for: Jeremiah, a former St. Jude patient, for his vision of the Hope Garden
Jeremiah Godby was 6 years old and planning his own funeral. In 1991, when he was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia with a rare Philadelphia chromosome mutation, there was little likelihood of survival.
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We’re grateful for: Cade Watson's family, for uniting southwestern Virginia to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
A person could drive through Damascus, Virginia, in five minutes, but to know its heart, they’d do well to spend two hours on the Saturday before Valentine’s Day at the St. Jude Sweetheart Banquet.
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We’re grateful for: Friends like Jim, who helped support the families and research of St. Jude
It was during a virtual event with fellow St. Jude supporters in early 2021 that 95-year-old Jim Guth found himself being serenaded with an online rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
About this blog
We went looking for acts of kindness in the time of the coronavirus — and found them everywhere. People looking out for a neighbor or stranger. People putting the most vulnerable among us first. People making human connections, even in this time of social distancing. As St. Jude founder Danny Thomas said: “Success in life has nothing to do with what you gain in life or accomplish for yourself. It's what you do for others.”
