Last week, I was lucky enough to be invited to visit Memphis, Tennessee, toparticipate in the invite-only St. Jude Play Live+ Summit.Just about 400 game streamers, fashion and fitness influencers, anda handful of podcasters all came to learn more aboutSt. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
The two-day event was something else. I sent this message in the Relay Slackabout halfway through the opening session:
During my time there, I heard many stories that went something like this:
[I/my child/my sibling] was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. Our local doctorshad no idea what to do, and told us [patient] had about a 10% chance of surviving.
We called St. Jude, and hours later, we had plane tickets to Memphis in-hand. Dayslater, [patient] was getting treated.
Many times, the same story. St. Jude would turn a hopeless situation — often timesquite literally a death sentence — to a story of perseverance, effort, and survival.
How can you not love such an amazing organization?
The campus is, of course, amazing. It’s also a bit odd — it’s a place that,at a glance, serves two different masters. On the one hand, their number one priorityis the treatment of the patients that come through their doors. But simultaneously,they are doing everything in their power to complete their mission: ensuringno child should die in the dawn of life. That means intense,multidisciplinary, collaborative research. Research that is then given away, so thathospitals around the world have the opportunity to use treatments invented at St. Jude.All this while also doing everything they can to accommodate patient families,including siblings, who are swept along for this terrible, awful ride.
Naturally, St. Jude endeavors to think of everything — including such basicneeds as having a salon and school on-site.
To quote my dear friend (and patient dad) Stephen:
The sheer scale of St. Jude is hard to convey unless you’re walking around someof the buildings, learning about the interplay of research and patient care thatis unique to St. Jude.
And all of this is accomplished without patient families paying a cent.
It’s a breathtaking place. The magnitude of their mission, the size of the operation,and the staff that believes, through-and-through, that they have a calling to do this.To do whatever they can to help sick kids.
As a part of the tour we took on campus, we spent some time in the Pavilion, whichhas several exhibits about its history, and that of its founder, Danny Thomas.In there, they had two boards, where you could answer the question “I went to St. Judeand was inspired by…”.
I can’t help but share two post-its I saw while there:
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. If all goes according toplan, I will be joining several of my friends to participate in the 12-hour RelayFM Podcastathon for St. Jude. I’ll be posting about it again when the time comes,but I hope you join us in raising money for this incredibly meaningful cause.
