Chris Cummins
Staff Writer

During this week’s SPUR, CHS students were treated to a presentation by St. Jude’s, a children’s research hospital, on the dangers of childhood cancer, and asked to write letters to friends and relatives asking for donations. Cancer is the number one cause for childhood death in the United States, and St. Jude’s is among the foremost pioneers in the field of cancer, researching new ways of preventing the disease, and helping those who are already afflicted with it.

One of the most admirable facets of St. Jude’s, despite the obvious fact that it’s dedicated to helping people, is that the hospital is completely nonprofit. All money received from the care of patients is used to fund new research and help in the daily upkeep of the hospital. In fact, 84% of it’s budget is made up of private donations, most of which are gained through their letter writing campaign, as well as other contributions.

St. Jude’s is so successful, in fact, that in 1962, the year St. Jude’s was founded, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer, was 4 percent. Today, the survival rate is 94%, in no small part due to the research St. Jude’s has pioneered. All major forms of childhood cancer now have 85% survival rates, and St. Jude’s is still researching new ways to combat the number one killer of Americans. In fact, one of the largest donations St. Jude’s has ever received came in an unlikely form; a McDonald’s lottery token for $1 million dollars. While we all can’t give such a large donation, we can write letters, and help, even if it’s in a small way, towards curing cancer.

For more information about St. Jude’s, visit: http://www.stjude.org/about