I'm working on achieving one of my life goals--running a full marathon. Why not do a good deed and raise money for a wonderful cause at the same time?

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital wrote -

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital strives to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. It is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance, and no child is ever denied treatment because of the family’s inability to pay.

St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today. 

St. Jude depends on donors to ensure that no child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay. In addition:

• It costs $1.7 million a day to operate St. Jude, and public donations provide more than 70 percent of funding.
• Most of the funding for protocols is not covered by insurance. St. Jude covers those costs along with other costs a family typically incurs while their child is being treated at the hospital – this includes travel, housing and food.
• St. Jude maintains a school program to provide opportunities for patients to continue their normal educational activities.
• St. Jude was the first pediatric cancer research institution to place doctors, scientists and patients "all under one roof," creating a worldwide model for "bench-to-bedside" research and treatment of childhood cancers and other life-threatening diseases.
• St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world.
• St. Jude was the first institution to develop a cure for sickle cell disease with a bone marrow transplant and has one of the largest pediatric sickle cell programs in the country.
• Research findings at St. Jude are shared freely with doctors and scientists all over the world. Dr. Michael DeBakey, a pioneer in the development of the artificial heart, said that "a child saved at St. Jude means a thousand children saved elsewhere."

Please help us continue to fight childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases by donating to St. Jude.

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