As a young man, Danny Thomas lived to entertain, but the entertainment business did not come easy. As a married man and struggling actor, Danny had a hard time providing for his family, so he prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. “Show me my way in life,” he vowed to the saint one night in a Detroit church, “and I will build you a shrine.” That night would be a night that Mr. Thomas never forgot. Danny soon became one of the biggest TV and radio stars in his day. He soon began using this platform to fulfill his promise to St. Jude Thaddeus to impact the lives of many children and families around the world. Danny decided to open a children's hospital.
In 1955, after much thought, Danny, as well as a few businessmen in on the hospital project, decided that the hospital should be more than just a children's hospital. They wanted it to be a hospital that treated cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Danny also wanted treatment to be free, as he believed the family should focus on their child and not the financial burdens that came along with healing them.
After years of fundraising, Danny finally opened St. Jude Children's Research Hospital on February 4, 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee, where no child or family would be denied due to race, religion, or inability to pay.
Here is why you should consider donating to St. Jude.
Today:
- No family ever receives a bill from St. Jude. St. Jude covers travel, food, housing, and treatment because all families should worry about is helping their child live.
- It costs roughly $2 million a day to keep St. Jude open. This is mostly covered by public donations.
- St. Jude has helped improve the survival rate of childhood cancer from 20 to 80 percent. Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the disease with a virtual death sentence in 1962, now has a survival rate of 94 percent.
- St. Jude is a world leader in developing new, improved treatments for children with cancer, and they create more clinical trials for cancer than any other children's hospital.
- St. Jude freely shares breakthroughs, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.
- Every year, St. Jude treats roughly 7,800 patients which are mostly treated on an outpatient basis.
- During the past five years, 81 cents of every dollar received has supported the research and treatment at St. Jude.
- St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.
St. Jude is an amazing place like no other. As stated before, no family ever receives a bill which means donors are a huge part of keeping Danny Thomas's dream alive that, "No child should die in the dawn of life." Consider donating to this amazing cause and help continue the lifesaving mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
