Women Who Inspire: Addie Pratt

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Nothing in Addie Pratt’s life — not her high school graduation, her college degree or her budding career in country music — would have been possible without St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®.

"I hope people know how thankful I am. I owe all of this to St. Jude," Addie said.

Addie was born to make music.

At 3, she pitched a fit until they let her take the stage at a hometown barbecue joint in Mississippi. As the story goes, she sang and brought down the house. 

In the car on her way to preschool, she belted out some of country music’s best hits, songs heavy with themes of love and lament.

At 11, she flawlessly delivered the national anthem to thousands of college basketball fans.

Then her life changed forever.

In 2016 she was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. The high school freshman was referred to St. Jude and was in treatment for six months. Today, she is cancer-free. 

And she has never stopped singing praises to St. Jude.

Addie has represented the research hospital, singing the national anthem at college football bowl games and at the start of the St. Jude Memphis Marathon®.

In 2020, the then-college freshman harmonized beautifully with country music megastar Brad Paisley in the studio and onstage during a network television special, singing “Alive Right Now.” The song honors the lifesaving work being done at St. Jude.

During her senior year, Addie collaborated with Charles Kelley and Dave Haywood from Lady A and award-winning producer Nathan Chapman to write “The Woman That I Am.” It celebrates Addie’s personal St. Jude journey. 

Addie performed her single in Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, the “Mother Church” of country music, at the sixth annual Bobby Bones & The Raging Idiots Million Dollar Show, receiving a standing ovation from country music’s star-studded elite.

Today, Addie lives in Nashville, where she works for ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. Addie is still writing and plans to release new music this year.

“Nashville already feels like home,” said the small-town girl.

She’s missed by her parents, Kim and Michael Pratt, who are her biggest fans. 

“Michael and I find ourselves inspired by Addie, just like anyone who knows her. Of course, we are proud of her many accomplishments,” Kim said. “But we are even more proud of just who she is as a person. She is courageous and lives life with a great sense of purpose.”

“It’s been a crazy domino effect sort of thing,” Addie said. “I went through something really tragic and terrible, and St. Jude has just continued to bless me every single day since then. Not only did they save my life, they are making dreams I didn’t even know I had come true.”