St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
When Danny Thomas was trying to establish himself as an entertainer, he was torn between his dedication to his work and his responsibility to his wife and their new baby. Desperate, Danny knelt before the statue of St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of the hopeless, and begged for a sign: should he or should he not remain in show business? Danny promised to build a shrine to the saint if he would show Danny his way in life.Danny Thomas went on to become one of the best-loved entertainers of his time, starring in the television series Make Room for Daddy, which aired 1953-64 and became one of the most successful and honored family comedy shows in television history. The series won many awards, including five Emmys, and was still in the top 10 in ratings after 11 years when Danny voluntarily ended the show.
Stardom in the movies also came to Danny Thomas. He co-starred with Margaret O'Brien in The Unfinished Dance and The Big City; in Call Me Mister with Betty Grable; with Doris Day in I'll See You in My Dreams; and in The Jazz Singer with Peggy Lee.
In 1960, Danny partnered with Sheldon Leonard to produce such comic hits as The Andy Griffith Show and The Dick Van Dyke Show. In 1966, he formed Thomas-Spelling Productions with writer-producer Aaron Spelling to produce television programs such as The Mod Squad.
Throughout his successes, Danny never forgot his promise to St. Jude. Danny and his close friend and mentor, the Roman Catholic cardinal of Chicago, Samuel Cardinal Stritch, decided the shrine to St. Jude would be a hospital for children, a place where they would be cared for regardless of race, religion, or ability to pay. In order to fund the hospital's operating costs, Danny organized the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), which has become one of the most successful fund-raising organizations in American history.
Today, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is an internationally recognized, biomedical research center dedicated to finding cures for catastrophic diseases of childhood, mainly cancer. Since opening in 1962, the hospital has treated more than 20,000 children from all 50 states and more than 70 foreign countries and has developed protocols that have helped bring survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to better than 70 percent overall. The survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer, has increased to nearly 90 percent, up from just four percent when the hospital opened. Research findings at St. Jude are freely shared with doctors and scientists all over the world.
St. Jude, which is non-sectarian, has approximately 4,700 patients in active status. It is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay.
The hospital's operating costs are approximately $1,027,832 a day, which are primarily covered by public contributions raised by ALSAC. During the past five years, out of every dollar received at ALSAC, 84.3 percent goes to current or future needs of the hospital.
St. Jude is nearing completion of an expansion project to bolster the hospital¡¦s research efforts and more than double the size of the St. Jude campus. The $1 billion expansion includes establishment of the Children¡¦s Infection Defense Center and expansion of the hospital's International Outreach Program.