Childhood cancer survivor saved by St. Jude feels inspired to give back

When Heidi Griffin arrived at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in 1967, she was the 860th patient treated at the hospital.

She was only 2 years old when she was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia or ALL, then one of the deadliest childhood cancers. St. Jude had opened its doors just five years earlier, when survival rates for children with ALL hovered around 4%.

Faced with impossible odds, Heidi’s family turned to a young hospital built on a bold belief held by St. Jude founder Danny Thomas that “no child should die in the dawn of life.”

Doctors enrolled Heidi in a clinical trial alongside 34 other children with ALL. The trial was called Total Therapy 5, and it combined chemotherapy and radiotherapy. While previous St. Jude protocols had relied on radiotherapy to the head and spine to prevent relapse of the disease, Total 5 was the first time St. Jude had used an increased radiotherapy dose that was targeted only to the head and used chemotherapy instead of radiation to treat the spine.  The approach paid off: roughly half of the 35 children in the study were cured and survived long-term. 

Heidi was one of them.

“It was very amazing, that trial,” Heidi said. “I was very lucky to be alive because of the testing that was done.”

What felt uncertain at the time would eventually help change the outlook for ALL, the most common childhood cancer. The lessons learned from studies like Heidi’s laid the groundwork for advances that have transformed ALL from a disease that was almost always fatal into one with survival rates that stand at 94%.

For Heidi, though, St. Jude was more than groundbreaking research and medical innovation. It became a second home. 

She continued to follow up at the hospital until she was 12 years old. During those years, she formed friendships with other patients and grew close to the doctors, nurses and staff who cared for her. She also met celebrities like Elvis Presley who she remembers reading stories to the children. While her childhood was shaped by hospital visits and treatments, it was also shaped by the kindness and encouragement she found at St. Jude.

“There was hope,” Heidi said. “Hope and prayers, and everybody was so supportive. I was very lucky to have that support and to have the doctors and nurses care for me.”

As an adult, Heidi has returned to St. Jude as a participant in two research studies that examine the long-term effects of treatment and health outcomes for survivors of childhood cancer. The information gathered helps inform future treatments for patients and care plans for survivors. More than five decades after her initial treatment, Heidi also came to campus for the Danny Thomas St. Jude Society, an annual event celebrating legacy supporters of St. Jude. 

Much has changed since her days as a young patient. 

New buildings stretched across a campus far larger than the one she remembered. Researchers, clinicians and families filled spaces that did not exist when she arrived as the 860th patient. Yet as she walked the campus, photographs of the original star-shaped building hanging on the walls connected her to another era.

Looking at those images, Heidi was struck by how much St. Jude had grown.

“It means they’re doing a good job,” she said.

Today, Heidi is in her 60s and living proof of what that growth has made possible. Grateful for the chance at life she was given, she has included St. Jude in her estate plans, naming the hospital as a beneficiary of both her will and trust. 

For Heidi, the decision was simple.

“It is important to me to give back,” she said, her voice catching with emotion. “St. Jude saved my life, and I owe my life to St. Jude.”