American Idol® finalist Jessica Meuse finds her passions of performance and fitness overlap when she gives back to a mission close to her heart: St. Jude.
The musician took up running as a way to stay healthy while on tour promoting her first album. Jessica has always been drawn to the St. Jude mission and let her worlds collide when she decided to fundraise as a St. Jude Hero.
Jessica Meuse at the St. Jude Rock 'n' Roll Nashville Marathon and 1/2 Marathon
“The fitness, the music and the mission all come together. My life comes full circle,” Jessica said.
To date, Jessica has participated in the St. Jude Rock ‘n’ Roll Nashville Marathon, the Rock ‘n’ Roll Virginia Beach Half Marathon and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon as a St. Jude Hero. This December, she looks forward to watching the mission come to life in the 17th annual St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend, where she will run through the hospital’s campus and see St. Jude patients and families cheering her and thousands of other supporters on.
The St. Jude mission hits home for Jessica. After her father was diagnosed with skin cancer and witnessing a close friend battle breast cancer, Jessica realized the reach of the disease.
“My father’s diagnosis put into perspective that he was human, and I could lose him,” she said. “The work that St. Jude does is so important because cancer affects everyone.”
Jessica visits the St. Jude campus.
The hospital’s mission impacted her the most when she grasped the parallels between her father’s cancer journey and children at St. Jude going through similar experiences. But on her tour of St. Jude, she was amazed to find a hospital filled with nothing but smiles and laughter.
“I can’t imagine what it’s like to have cancer as a kid, but they are troopers,” Meuse said. “They’re so strong.”
Over the last 16 years, the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend has raised more than $60 million for the patients and families of St. Jude thanks to supporters like Jessica who fundraise as St. Jude Heroes. Events like this help ensure families at St. Jude never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food.
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