St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Why Danny Thomas opened St. Jude More than 70 years ago, Danny Thomas was a young entertainer with a baby on the way. Work wasn't easy to come by, and his despair grew. He turned to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes, and vowed: *Show me my way in life, and I will build you a shrine.* That prayer marked a pivotal moment. Soon after, he began finding work, eventually becoming one of the biggest stars of radio, film and television in his day. He was on Make Room for Daddy, later known as The Danny Thomas Show. Danny used his fame to fulfill his vow and to change the lives of thousands of children and families. In 1962, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital opened in front of a crowd of 9,000 in Memphis, Tenn. Historical milestones 1966 A group of St. Jude patients are the first acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients to ever be successfully taken off therapy, based on evidence that remission can be sustained. 1977 The hospital launches the first major effort to understand the lifelong progression of sickle cell disease. 1984 We open the After Completion of Therapy Clinic, the world's largest long-term follow-up clinic for pediatric cancer patients. 1996 Peter Doherty, PhD, St. Jude Immunology chair, is awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. 2006 St. Jude reports a 94% survival rate for patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), using therapy that does not include radiation. 2007 The St. Jude LIFE study begins to study the long-term effects of cancer and its treatment. This initiative is one of the most ambitious follow-up projects ever conceived. 2008 St. Jude is designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center. We're the first and only cancer center solely focused on pediatric cancer to receive this distinction. 2010 We launch the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, a collaboration with Washington University to uncover why childhood cancer arises, spreads and resists treatment. As part of the world’s largest such initiative, scientists compare the complete normal and cancer genomes of 800 childhood cancer patients with some of the toughest and least understood pediatric cancers. 2018 St. Jude and World Health Organization announce a five-year collaboration to transform cancer care by curing at least 60% of children with six of the most common kinds of cancer worldwide by 2030. 2019 St. Jude announces a cure for SCID-X1, commonly known as bubble boy disease. By combining gene therapy and low-dose chemotherapy with busulfan, immune function is restored in infants with the disorder.