About St. Jude
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Quick facts
- St. Jude covers the cost of everything—food, travel and lodging for patients and a family member.
- St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay.
- In 2009, Parents magazine named St. Jude the No. 1 pediatric cancer care hospital in the country, based on the magazine's survey of more than 75 children's hospitals nationwide.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, is one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Children from all 50 states and around the world have come through the doors of St. Jude for treatment, and thousands more have benefited from the research conducted at St. Jude—research that is shared freely with the global medical community.
Working together, St. Jude physicians and scientists have pioneered treatments that have helped push the overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent in 1962 to 80 percent today. The survival rate for the most common form of childhood cancer, acute lymphoblastic leukemia, has risen from just 4 percent in 1962 to 94 percent today.
That was the vision of Danny Thomas when he founded St. Jude, thanks to an answered prayer to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. "Show me my way in life," Danny prayed as he sought direction in his life, "and I will build you a shrine."
Danny's prayer was answered, and he soon became one of America's most beloved entertainers. Even after he achieved fame and fortune, Danny always remembered his pledge to St. Jude.
Today, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital stands as the embodiment of that pledge and has served as a symbol of hope for children stricken with catastrophic diseases since opening in 1962.
Find out more about St. Jude by visiting stjude.org.
This November, communities across the country—from New Hampshire to Southern California—will join together in the Give thanks. Walk. to show their support for the lifesaving work of St. Jude.
St. Jude helps kids in communities everywhere. Children from across the country and around the world have come to St. Jude for treatment. Their stories reflect hope and courage.