Charlie appears in a St. Jude commercial, with his mother and grandmother talking about his St. Jude journey.
Charlie's story
Charlie loves airplanes, soccer, dogs and donuts. He’s a gregarious young teenager who doesn’t mind opening up about what he’s been through. He wants people to know the seriousness of childhood cancer.
“It’s different in a child because a child is still growing. Everything’s still developing. It attacks, it consumes,” he said.
Charlie was diagnosed in 2020 with Ewing sarcoma in his shoulder. He was quickly referred to St. Jude where he underwent chemotherapy and surgery to replace the cancerous bone with a titanium rod.
It was not his family’s first experience with St. Jude.
St. Jude patient Charlie with his mom
Decades earlier, Charlie’s aunt had received cancer treatment at St. Jude. She did not survive, passing away as a child on Christmas Day.
“We remember her every year on Christmas Day,” said his mom, “but actually being in the same place, the same grounds, on that same day. It was eerie. It was strange. But there was a sense of peace, too. An odd sense of peace.”
Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — so they can focus on helping their child live.
Charlie completed treatment, and his scans have remained clear. St. Jude is “a lifesaving organization,” he said. “Without donors, that would not be possible.”
St. Jude patient Charlie with his family
St. Jude won’t stop until no child dies from cancer, no matter where they live.
Join our St. Jude family. This holiday season, we need you.
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