Bond of Caring Between USAPA and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

In less than two short years, the USAPA has raised nearly $25, 000 benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

With a partnership such as this, the hospital is able to fulfill their mission that families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food – because all a family should ever worry about is helping their child live.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is continuing to expand its reach around the world with the launch of St. Jude Global. The hospital unveiled this bold new initiative that grows and strengthens its efforts to improve access to care for children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases in every corner of the world. St. Jude is investing more than $100 million in St. Jude Global to achieve an ambitious goal of influencing the care of 30 percent of children with cancer worldwide within the next decade.

Global childhood cancer rates are on the rise as more children worldwide survive infancy. Today, more than 80 percent of children with cancer live in low- and middle-income countries, where they lack access to adequate diagnosis and treatment. The majority of those children will die from their disease. This is a sharp contrast to developed nations where survival rates for pediatric cancers exceed 80 percent.

“St. Jude founder Danny Thomas dreamed of a world where ‘no child should die in the dawn of life,’” said James R. Downing, M.D., St. Jude president and chief executive officer. “While we have made great strides in achieving this dream in some parts of the world, the majority of children still die from cancers that can be effectively treated. With St. Jude Global, we are expanding the ways in which St. Jude reaches and impacts the quality of care provided to children around the world, closing the gap in survival that has persisted for too long.”

Treatments developed at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to 80 percent since the hospital opened more than 50 years ago. This would not be possible without the extraordinary help from partners like the USAPA. St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs it makes, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children. If you have any upcoming tournaments or events and would like to create your own fundraiser for St. Jude around it, please reach out to your St. Jude team at 1-800-457-2444 or email specialevents@stjude.org and we will help you get started.

Sima Jeha, M.D., a member of the Oncology Department and the Director of the East and Mediterranean Region for St. Jude Global, visits with patients at King Hussein Cancer Center in Amman, Jordan.