St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is now working with one of the top digital influencers in the world, Sebastian Villalobos, helping ensure that the St. Jude mission — Finding cures. Saving children.® — reaches new audiences across the digital landscape.
Villalobos recently visited the St. Jude campus, to meet with families and learn more about how St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. He also documented his time at St. Jude in a video on his YouTube channel titled “This Video Can Change Someone's Life.” To date, it has nearly 500,000 views and almost 80,000 likes.
“Visiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital was one of the most incredible experiences of my life,” Villalobos, a native of Bogota, Colombia. “I am so proud to partner with this world class organization to help raise awareness for its mission and to play a small role in ensuring that no family ever receives a bill from St. Jude for the cost of treatment, travel, housing or food because all a family should have to worry about is helping their child live.”
Twenty-one-year-old Villalobos is a Hispanic trendsetter with more than 18 million followers across a range of social media platforms. He has garnered 5.7 million YouTube subscribers on his main channel and has a second channel, VillalobosSebas, where he posts similar content. His YouTube videos typically garner more than three million views each, earning him a spot in the 2016 YouTube Rewind video which features the top YouTubers in the world. He has also appeared on Disney's Latin America show Soy Luna.
“I’m always pleased to see young people like Sebastian become involved with the lifesaving mission here at St. Jude because engagement with millennial and GenZ audiences in creative ways is absolutely critical for the future success of our mission,” said Richard C. Shadyac Jr., the President and Chief Executive Officer of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. “Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to more than 80 percent today and we’re working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent. We won't stop until no child dies from cancer — and with the generous help and support of people like Sebastian and his fans we’ll get there.”
About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Its purpose is clear: Finding cures. Saving children.® It is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% since the hospital opened in 1962. St. Jude won't stop until no child dies from cancer. St. Jude shares the discoveries it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. Visit St. Jude Inspire to discover powerful St. Jude stories of hope, strength, love and kindness. Join the St. Jude mission by visiting stjude.org, liking St. Jude on Facebook, following St. Jude on Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, and subscribing to its YouTube channel.