St. Jude Children’s Hospital: Giving Hope to the Hopeless

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Your most beloved baby brother becomes ill. What at first seems like a normal childhood sickness does not go away or get better after a few days. After visiting doctor after doctor and numerous specialists, none of whom can give you a diagnosis or guidance on how to help him, you feel hopeless. You watch helplessly while your brother continues to get sicker and sicker. You begin to fear for his life. What would you do? Whom would you turn to? For many, the answer is St. Jude Children’s Hospital. St. Jude Children’s Hospital is a non-profit ‘pediatric treatment and research facility... [that] completely changed how the world treats children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases” (About St. Jude). St. Jude Children’s Hospital offers vital hope to many children who were considered lost causes. Summer Wilson is one such example. Summer was a five-week old preemie infant with a very rare cancer. Summer’s doctors did not have any answers for her condition. Summer’s mother Deanna Wilson remembers, “The best case scenario that we were given was to take [Summer] home and love her… she’s not going to make it” (Stump). This was the cataclysmic and devastating consensus of the local doctors. Miraculously, Summer did make it; St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital saved her. Summer is now seventeen years old and thriving, because St Jude’s saved her when others could not. St. Jude Children’s Hospital touches many lives, not just of the children it treats, but also the families who love these children, and the communities these families come from. St Jude Children’s Hospital is an amazing story of love, inspiration, and leadership. Today, I will examine five key pillars of leadership as they specifically relate to this orga... ... middle of paper ... .... Stump, Scott. “TODAY News.” TODAY News. N.p., 25 Nov. 2013. Web. 12 Feb 2014. fighting-child-2D11650629>. “The Story of St. Jude Children’s Hospital.” Archdiocese of St. Louis. N.p., Winter 2006. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. 2580%2599s-hospital>. Zmuda, Natalie. “ST. Jude’s Goes From Humble Beginnings to Media Ubiquity.” Advertising Age. N.p., 14 Feb. 2011. Web. 10 Feb. 2014. humble-beginnings-media-ubiquity/148820/>. Zuger, Sascha. “Kids Give Back with New ‘learn-a-thons’: from Spelling Bees to Math Challenges, Kids Raise Funds While Mastering Skills.: Instructor [1990] Mar.-Apr. 2010: 37+ Expanded Academic ASAP. Web. 10 Feb. 2014.

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