Saint Jude

On Tuesday I wrote here that Cancer sucks. You may have followed the other words I put down in this space about cancer. Yesterday I mentioned some organizations that are part of the fight against these ugly diseases. Spending a week focused on cancers, brings to mind more information than I could possible share in this small space, but there is much more to say and more to do. Today I want to mention Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital. Located in Memphis, Tennessee Saint Jude is a nonprofit pediatric treatment and research facility focused on children's catastrophic diseases. It was founded back in 1962 by entertainer Danny Thomas.

Cancer is horrible when it strikes anyone, but imagine a small child having to fight for their life. At Saint Jude the focus is not only on pediatric cancer, but on other childhood diseases as well. There has been a marvelous success rate there too. The survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, which is the most common type of cancer in kids, has increased from 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today. Watching the fundraising messages on television, you see children full of hope and energy. Cancer has to be a scary thing for a young child, and giving them hope is a huge step in treatment.

I have mentioned a number of organizations here this week, and there are many more that we can look at, but I do hope you will look further at Saint Jude. Their website is at https://www.stjude.org/ and have much information, including ways you can get involved.

Have you got personal stories of children battling cancer? Has cancer touched your family of friends of yours? Please feel welcome to contribute by commenting below.