History of St. Jude
More than 50 years ago, Danny Thomas, a struggling young entertainer with $7 in his pocket, got down on his knees in a Detroit church, before a statue of St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. Danny Thomas asked the saint to “show me my way in life,” and pledged to someday build a shrine to the saint. His prayer was answered. Within a few years, Danny Thomas’ career prospered. Through films and television, he became a nationally known entertainer, and he remembered his pledge to St. Jude.
When the hospital opened its doors in 1962, a diagnosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) was a death sentence. ALL, the most common form of childhood cancer, had only a 4% survival rate. At that time, the Handbook of Pediatrics stated, “There is no cure for leukemia; treatment is directed at prolonging life and relieving symptoms.” Pioneering research at St. Jude resulted in patients with ALL having a 50% cure rate only 8 years after the hospital was established. Building on this early success, St. Jude developed protocols that have raised current survival rates for children with ALL to above 90%. The hospital’s research findings are shared with doctors and scientists around the world; thus, tens of thousands of children are alive today as a result of the research and clinical trials conducted at St. Jude.
Despite the greater than 90% cure rate, some forms of ALL continue to evade treatment. Today, researchers at St. Jude are using next generation sequencing to explore the pathogenesis of leukemia and the effects of treatment, with the goal of identifying unique molecular targets for the development of more effective therapies. Several novel targets have been identified as a result of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, which sequenced the complete genomes of more than 600 matched samples of normal cells and cancer cells from patients with the most challenging and severe forms of childhood cancer. As a result of this work, personalized therapies are now being developed. Pharmacogenomic studies are also providing novel insights into inherited differences in drug response, which can further help individualize treatment. To date, St. Jude has treated more than 30,000 children from across the United States and from more than 80 countries around the world. All patients are accepted by physician referral for newly diagnosed, untreated, or suspected cancer; HIV infections; or certain hematologic, immunologic, or genetic diseases. Patients are accepted based on their eligibility to enroll in an open St. Jude clinical research protocol. After an initial evaluation, assistance with transportation and local living expenses are also provided.
St. Jude patients and their families are never billed for treatment. ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St. Jude, covers all costs beyond those reimbursed by third-party insurers, and when no insurance coverage is available, ALSAC covers all the patient’s costs. Most patients are seen on a continuing outpatient basis, but the hospital is licensed for 80 beds to accommodate patients who require hospitalization during treatment.
Danny Thomas’ “little hospital in Memphis”—which now has daily operating costs exceeding $2.5 million dollars—has dramatically improved health care for children around the world and continues to work on improving treatments for pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. Danny Thomas passed away in 1991, but his children, Marlo, Terre, and Tony, carry on the mission and remain a driving force to ensure that their father’s dream endures.