Relay for St. Jude 2024 →

Since 2019, the Relay community has raised $2.98 million in support of St. Jude’s life-saving work.

TWO POINT NINE EIGHT MILLION DOLLARS, YALL!

That number staggers me.

With $3 million in sight,¹ today we are launching Relay’s sixth annual fundraising campaign for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

In May 2009, my wife Merri and I received news that would change the trajectory of our family’s life forever. Our oldest son Josiah was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Just two years later, I wrote this:

It was one of those typical hospital sofas.

The rubbery, terrible green, squeak-when-you-move jobs. It was long enough for a couple of people to sit on, but too short for any normal sized person to lay down on. The cushions were made of some type of foam that probably should be reserved for things like dampening vibrations in car doors.

On that hospital sofa, on a Saturday morning, my family changed forever.

The doctors were all incredibly nice. The head of the pediatric neurosurgery team was a middle-aged, balding, soft-spoken man who often had to push his glasses up a bit. His team was with him. His head nurse sat down next to my wife Merri, and was playing with our son Josiah as the doctors settled in, exchanging glances. None of them opened the folders of paperwork they brought with them. No jokes were cracked; no small talk was required.

It looked like an episode of House, minus the jerk. And the cane.

I don’t remember all the words the doctor used. I’ve heard people describe “out of body experiences,” but I never really believed such things ever happened. But there I was, having one. Only the highlights were processed enough to become memories. Words like surgery, tumor and blindness floated by like fog over water. I couldn’t quite grasp onto any of them, and it all seemed … hazy.

A lot has changed since I published that in 2011. Today, Josiah is 15, and has been off treatment for over 13 years. His progress hasn’t always been easy or linear, and the echos of his chemotherapy and surgical history are still present in his life. But he’s here.

That is thanks to St. Jude. They stepped between our family and disaster, not only treating Josiah’s cancer, but caring for all of us. In our trauma, we found a community. In our sorrow, we found hope.

And what’s true for my family is true for thousands of others, from around the world. In their darkest moments, St. Jude shines with the light of a city on a hill.

That’s why Relay is so proud to partner with St. Jude. We want to take that light and help it shine brighter and further than ever before.

Over the last few years, we have been blown away by the community’s work toward that end. Thank you for your on-going support of St. Jude’s work.

Donate Today

As in previous years, you can donate directly or start your own fundraiser. All of the information needed for that — and a lot more — is all live now on the campaign home page.