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Requesting the gift of giving * Fort Scott youth offers the gift of life to children of St. Jude Hospital
While most children count the number of presents they receive on their birthdays, one Fort Scott youth spent her special day counting how much she could give.
When Grace Williams turned 8 years old on Oct. 6, she made one request, according to her mother Lauri. She asked that family and friends give her money instead of presents. Williams' birthday wish is to send as much money as possible to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, according to Grace's father, Lane Williams.
Lane said this is not the first time his daughter has sent money to help the young patients at St. Jude. Last year for Williams' 7th birthday, she decided to donate her birthday money to St. Jude for the first time. Family members, friends and some teachers who attended Williams' birthday party were asked to give her money to contribute to St. Jude instead of giving her gifts at the party. After the party last year, Williams was able to send St. Jude a check for $125 to help with cancer research.
When asked why she would send her birthday money to the research hospital, Williams said she has seen the commercials on television about the hospital and decided she wanted to help.
"I want to help the kids," Williams said. "They help the kids there. It helps them afford to stay there."
According to Williams, her grandmother died of cancer. She added this is one reason she feels sorry for the children at the hospital.
"If I didn't send the money, kids might die," Williams said.
Williams said that knowing that she is playing a role in helping to keep these children alive makes her feel good. So far this year, Williams has collected more than $300 to send to the hospital. She said she is thinking about making this yearly contribution a birthday tradition.
Williams said when she becomes an adult, she would like to do more to help the children at St. Jude by becoming a doctor or a nurse on staff at the hospital.
When Marilyn Elledge, the senior vice-president at St. Jude's fundraising organization, ALSAC, recently discovered an 8-year-old was donating money to the hospital, she expressed her gratitude for Williams' contribution.
"Grace represents the wonderful giving spirit that has made the St. Jude mission of eradicating childhood cancer possible," said Elledge. "It is especially heartening to see a young person reaching out to other children in such a generous way. We are truly grateful to Grace. She is another caring soldier in our founder Danny Thomas' army, all of us striving toward the day when no child will die in the dawn of life."
According to Elledge, St. Jude was founded in 1962, and it is the first institution established for the sole purpose of conducting basic and clinical research and treatment for cancer.
"St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a comprehensive cancer center by the National Cancer Institute," Elledge said.
More than 5,000 active patients throughout the United States as well as around the world visit the hospital each year. Research and treatment at St. Jude has increased the survival rate of children with various forms of cancer, according to Elledge.
"St. Jude's groundbreaking development of combination therapy for children with ALL (acute lymphoblastic leukemia), the most common form of childhood cancer, revolutionized leukemia therapy worldwide and increased the survival rate from four percent, when St. Jude opened in 1962, to 94 percent today," Elledge said. "St. Jude's innovative research has also led to a dramatic increase in survival rates for children with many other major forms of cancer."
Williams said she hopes more area residents will begin to contribute money to help the children who receive medical services at St. Jude. For more information about St. Jude or to make a monetary donation, visit the hospital's Web site at www.st.jude.org.