St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is the only pediatric cancer research center that pays for all treatment not covered by insurance, regardless of a family's ability to pay.

Eighty-five cents of every dollar received at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital goes directly to patient care and research. Every breakthrough made at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is immediately and freely shared with the scientific community worldwide. That's why St. Jude is often referred to as the "hospital without walls."

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital pays for the cost of travel, food, and lodging for every patient and a parent.
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital follows the progress of its patients long after they leave the hospital, providing certain follow-up services, advice and assistance at no charge to the patients.
• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital works to find cures for some rare life-threatening childhood diseases that require very specialized treatments.

Overview
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tennessee, is one of the world's premier centers for research and treatment of catastrophic diseases in children, primarily pediatric cancers.

Mission
The mission of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our Founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay.

Research Focus
Research efforts are directed at understanding the molecular, genetic and chemical bases of catastrophic diseases in children, identifying cures for such diseases and promoting their prevention. Research is focused specifically on cancers, acquired and inherited immunodeficiencies, infectious diseases and genetic disorders.

Current Research
The current basic and clinical research at St. Jude includes work in gene therapy, bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy, the biochemistry of normal and cancerous cells, radiation treatment, blood diseases, resistance to therapy, viruses, hereditary diseases, influenza, pediatric AIDS and psychological effects of catastrophic diseases. St. Jude also conducts long-term biostatistical investigations on its patients and is the only pediatric research hospital that has been awarded a National Cancer Institute cancer center support grant.

Expansion
St. Jude continues an extensive expansion program to bolster the hospital's research/treatment efforts, while more than doubling the size of the original St. Jude campus. The expansion includes the Children's GMP, LLC, the nation's only pediatric research center on-site facility for production of highly specialized medicines and vaccines; and an expanded Immunology Department. St. Jude has also added two new departments: Chemical Biology & Therapeutics and Cancer Prevention and Control. Future growth will include a new Integrated Patient Care and Research Building where rapidly evolving CT (computerized tomography) and MR (magnetic resonance) technology will keep St. Jude at the cutting edge for radiation therapy in a pediatric/adolescent setting.

Patients
About 4,900 patients are seen at St. Jude yearly, most of whom are treated on a continuing outpatient basis as part of ongoing research programs. The hospital also maintains 60 beds for patients requiring hospitalization during treatment. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from more than 70 countries.

Patients at St. Jude are accepted by physician referral when the children or adolescents are newly diagnosed or has a disease under research and treatment by the St. Jude staff.

St. Jude is the only pediatric research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay.

How Each Dollar We Receive Is Spent
Our commitment to helping children thoughout the world is accomplished through the responsible allocation of the generous financial support St. Jude receives each year.

Founding
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas and opened in 1962. St. Jude is supported primarily by funds from volunteer contributions raised by its national fund-raising arm, ALSAC, which was established by Danny Thomas expressly for the purpose of funding St. Jude. The hospital also receives assistance from federal grants (mainly through the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute), insurance and investments.

Nobel Prize
One of the most significant events to occur at St. Jude happened in 1996 when Peter Doherty, PhD, Immunology, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine. He was recognized for key discoveries he made about the workings of the immune system. It is the highest award a scientist can win.

Operations
Operations are overseen by the Boards of Directors and Governors. The research activities are reviewed annually by the Scientific Advisory Board, composed of internationally prominent physicians and scientists.

The hospital's daily operating costs are approximately $1,216,247, which are primarily covered by public contributions.St. Jude has more than 3,130 employees.

Affiliates
St. Jude currently has five affiliate hospitals: the St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in Peoria, Illinois; LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana; Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana; the St. Jude Tri<Cities Affiliate in Johnson City, Tennessee; and Huntsville Women's and Children's Hospital in Huntsville, Alabama.

Research
The current basic and clinical research at St. Jude includes work in gene therapy, bone marrow transplant, chemotherapy, the biochemistry of normal and cancerous cells, radiation treatment, blood diseases, resistance to therapy, viruses, hereditary diseases, influenza, pediatric AIDS and psychological effects of catastrophic diseases.

St. Jude also conducts long-term biostatistical investigations on its patients and is the only pediatric research hospital that has been awarded a National Cancer Institute cancer center support grant.

Cutting Edge research happens every day at St. Jude.

• St. Jude has the largest protocol-based pediatric brain tumor program in the country.
• St. Jude is the operations and scientific center of the national Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium, formed by the National Cancer Institute.
• St. Jude pioneered the use of 3-D radiation technology to treat pediatric brain tumors. The technique targets the tumor while significantly reducing damage to healthy tissue and protecting the intellectual development of the child.
• St. Jude is the first center to receive government approval for a unique bone marrow transplant procedure that makes it possible for parents who are not exact matches to be donors for their children.
• St. Jude was the first institution to cure sickle cell disease with a bone marrow transplant and has one of the largest pediatric sickle cell programs in the country.
• St. Jude is a leader in pediatric AIDS research and has pioneered the development of a novel three-tiered vaccine designed to provide protection against the wide diversity of AIDS viruses.The vaccine is now in FDA-approved clinical trials.

Danny's Story

Danny Thomas, St. Jude Founder
One of nine children born to immigrant parents, Danny Thomas entered the world during a blizzard in Deerfield, Mich., on Jan. 6, 1912. He began to help support the family at age 10 by selling newspapers, and at 11 he became a candy maker in a burlesque theater, a job he held for seven years.

Danny saved enough from his various jobs to go to Detroit and follow his dream to work in show business. One of his first jobs in Detroit was that of a singer on a radio show called "The Happy Hour Club." On the same program was a pretty, dark-haired Italian girl named Rose Marie Mantell. Danny escorted her home on the streetcar for three years before he proposed.

A Promise Made
When Rose Marie was about to give birth to their first child, Margaret (later Marlo), the Thomases were leading a precarious life with Danny trying to establish himself as an entertainer. He was torn between his dedication to his work and his responsibility to his wife and their new baby.

Desperate, Danny sought relief in prayer. He knelt before the statue of St. Jude, the patron saint of the hopeless causes, and begged for a sign: should he or should he not remain in show business? Impulsively, Danny promised to erect a shrine to St. Jude if the saint would show Danny his way in life.

Success At Last
In less than a year, Danny was earning 500 a week at the 5100 Club in Chicago. Danny went on to become one of the best-loved entertainers of his time, starring in shows in New York and Chicago, Hollywood movies and in the television series "Make Room for Daddy," which evolved into one of the most successful and honored family comedy shows in television history.

The series, which was actually based on 14 years of Danny's own life, depicted the comedian as an entertainer whose main problem was trying to spend as much time as possible with his family. The series won many awards, including five Emmys. After 11 seasons, and with his show still among the top 10 in ratings, Danny voluntarily ended the series.

A Promise Kept
Throughout his successes, Danny never forgot his promise to St. Jude. The shrine would be a hospital for needy children, a place where they would be cared for regardless of race, religion or ability to pay C a hospital where no suffering child would be turned away. Danny gave of himself wholeheartedly in the effort to realize his dream, contributing his talents, time and money.

From Danny's pledge that hospital care would be accessible to all children, regardless of their ability to pay, grew ALSAC, one of the most successful fund-raising organizations in American history.