Wishing you happy holidays

Esmeralda. Colton. Bryce.

These are just a few of the children whose families have turned to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital for the care their child needs to fight cancer and other life-threatening diseases. These are just a few of the children whose lives have been touched in some way by your generosity of spirit.

During this special time of year, when you gather with family and friends to celebrate the season, I hope you will also take a moment to reflect on the impact you’ve had this year on children like Esmeralda, Colton and Bryce.

Every dollar truly does make a difference to these children. Perhaps you’ve heard that said so often that you’ve started to tune it out. But I want you to stop and take that idea to heart, because, believe me, your donations truly do affect the lives of others.

When you give to St. Jude, through fundraising efforts such as St. Jude Thanks and Giving^®, you are helping to make the best resources available to doctors and scientists, resources that will help them find cures for diseases that threaten children’s lives. Your donations mean St. Jude is free to focus on promising research that could lead to new and better treatments for our children everywhere.

When you support St. Jude, you are helping us provide the very best in exceptional patient care. At St. Jude we understand how devastating it is to have to cope with a life-threatening disease, and thanks to you, we can have an extensive support system in place for every family who walks through our doors.

Because you care enough to give, St. Jude is able to remove the financial burden from our families. Your generosity means families never receive a bill from St. Jude — not for treatment, travel, housing or food — because all a family should worry about is helping their child live. And because St. Jude freely shares its discoveries — allowing doctors and scientists everywhere to use that knowledge — the impact of your donation is multiplied, and helps children across the country and around the globe.

So as we share and celebrate with one another during the holidays, please know that you have the blessings, good wishes and gratitude of every single one of us at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

Thank you for being a part of our St. Jude family.

Unfortunately, Esmeralda's condition soon changed and her cancer continued to progress. Despite the tireless efforts of St. Jude doctors, Esmeralda passed away in March 2017.