Former patients credit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital with saving their lives

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Last month, Arizona’s Family announced our partnership with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the first-ever St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway in our state.

Right now, a home is being built in the Valley, and in just a few months, you’ll be able to reserve a ticket to try to win that home.

Most importantly, this will all help raise money for families trying to keep their children alive.

Arizona’s Family recently went to the research hospital in Memphis, Tenn., to get a better understanding of what they do and to see firsthand where donations go.

For five years, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was Blair’s second home while he battled leukemia as a kid.

“I had tumors all over my body, so I would have a new spot where I would just have pain, and they knew new tumors were growing,” he said.

Bess is also a cancer survivor. She‘s actually considered a miracle. As a child, Bess’ rare disease was one of only 10 cases ever seen in the world.

“And to know you survived; how does that make you feel when you look back on it?” asked Arizona‘s Family’s Tess Rafols.

“I can’t understand that. I just know that St. Jude just did an amazing thing for me,” she said.

Bess' and Blair’s families never paid for any medical treatments they received, and that’s the case for every child who’s treated at St. Jude.

Bess and Blair share more than just being former patients. Today, they are among the 6,000 people who work on the 70-acre campus.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital has one of the world’s leading research-based pediatric brain tumor programs, and the work happens on the Memphis campus. It’s grown a lot since the hospital first opened in 1962 when it was founded by actor and comedian Danny Thomas.

You may not realize, 80% of the work done here is research. Basic and clinical research includes work in hereditary diseases, bone marrow transplants, chemotherapy neurological diseases, blood diseases and so much more. Findings from that research are available to any doctor and medical staff around the world.

“I was very drawn to St. Jude because St. Jude is a unique place where clinical science and research science converge into…creating therapies for kids with these catastrophic diseases,“ said Dr. Rachayata Dharmat, St. Jude’s Director of Preclinical Design and Development Core.

As a scientist, Dr. Dharmat specializes in the genetics of human diseases. She uses that science to create personalized therapies for a sick child, hoping to help that child live and to one day find a cure.

“We try to alleviate the symptoms,” she said. “We try to correct the genetic problems, and in certain cases, we are essentially just trying to improve their quality of life. Reduce the number of seizures, help them walk more, help them not end up in a wheelchair. But if everything works to plan, then they’re really cured in the right sense of the word.”

Finding a cure is the ultimate goal. Until then, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital aims to improve the survival rate of kids with cancer and other catastrophic diseases—never billing a family for treatment, travel, housing or food so that families can instead focus on helping their child live.

That’s all made possible through donations both from corporations and from people like you at home.

One of those St. Jude fundraisers is the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway. It’s in 40 cities across the country, and for the first time, it’s here in Phoenix! Click/tap here to learn more about how it works.

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