DECATUR -- One local school group is carrying on the fight to end childhood cancer and other diseases by raising funds to help support the families and the research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
The Decatur High School Cheer Team and head coach Ladale Clayton will host an all-day fundraiser on Friday, Sept. 13, for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. The cheer team will also circulate through the crowd collecting donations during the Decatur-Hermitage football contest at Bulldog Stadium, beginning at 5 p.m. with the junior high game.
"I am raising funds to support St. Jude Children's Research Hospital's lifesaving mission of finding cures for children battling cancer and other life-threatening diseases, and I need your help to reach my fundraising goal," Clayton said.
In 1962, well-known comedian and actor Danny Thomas fulfilled a vow to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes, to build a shrine in his honor. On Feb. 4, 1962, St. Jude Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tenn., opened its doors before a crowd of 9,000.
"By the end of the hospital's first year of operation, more than 30 research projects had been instituted and four had been completed" (www.stjude.org).
How your donation works
Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food because all family members should worry about is helping their child live.
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since it opened more than 50 years ago, and the hospital says it won't stop until no child dies from cancer.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. It freely shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save more children, according to stjude.org.
To help the Decatur Cheer team reach its goal of $500, donate online at stjude.org/fundraiser or donate during the football contest.
Community on 09/12/2019