September is around the corner, and that means our campaign to raise money for St. Jude is back!
In 2009, our oldest son Josiah began treatment at St. Jude for a brain tumor. He was just six months old. After 18 rounds of chemotherapy and a half-dozen surgeries, the cancer has not returned, but our family is forever changed.
We learned what it meant to suffer, and how it felt to fear the worst. We learned how to operate on very little sleep, and how to rely on our friends and family for not just support, but even for the basics of everyday life. Those 18 rounds of chemo were hard, but they worked, and as our son has grown, so has our response to the entire ordeal. Slowly, anger and despair faded, being replaced with a desire to give back to the place that saved Josiah’s life.
As I’m sure you know, St. Jude is a special place. It is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. If that sounds expensive, it’s because it is, but the bill isn’t passed to the families of patients. At St. Jude, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family’s ability to pay.
That’s what makes our fundraising campaign so important to me. I want to help give to others what was given to me. I want families facing the unthinkable to do so without the fear that saving their child will mean financial ruin. I want kids who will never step foot on St. Jude’s campus to benefit from the research done there. Most of all, I want the day to come to where no child dies in the dawn of life.
That takes all of us. In our little corner of the world, the Relay community has raised over $4 million for St. Jude since 2019, and I can’t wait to see what this year will bring.
When I stepped foot on St. Jude’s campus with my son in 2009, I had no idea where life was taking us, but I’m thankful it’s here.