XL Country And St. Jude Children’s Hospital Radiothon

XL Country Cares Radiothon to benefit St. Jude Hospitals and the children of Southwest Montana begins tomorrow at 6am and continues all day until 7pm and again on Friday. This benefit each year is a huge success only because of your generosity. St. Jude wouldn't be able to deliver the treatment they do without you. Read on for some quick facts about St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Thursday and Friday's call in number to donate is 1-800-942-8771

Check back here both days to see how much money people are donating updated each hour.

St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

QUICK FACTS

• St. Jude Children's Research Hospital^® opened in 1962 and was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas. Its mission is to find cures for children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and from around the world.

• St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay.

• In 1962, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), the most common form of childhood cancer, was 4 percent. Today, the survival rate for this once deadly disease is 94 percent, thanks to research and treatment protocols developed at St. Jude.

• The daily operating cost for St. Jude is $1.6 million, which is primarily covered by public contributions.

• During the past five years, 81 cents of every dollar received has supported the research and treatment at St. Jude.

• On average, 5,700 active patients visit the hospital each year, most of whom are treated on an outpatient basis.

• St. Jude maintains 78 inpatient beds and treats upwards of 230 patients each day.

• St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute.

• St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is the nation’s top children’s cancer hospital, according to the 2010-11 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings published by U.S. News & World Report.

• St. Jude is the first institution established for the sole purpose of conducting basic and clinical research and treatment into catastrophic childhood diseases, mainly cancer.

• St. Jude was the first pediatric cancer research institution to place doctors, scientists and patients “all under one roof,” creating a worldwide model for “bench-to-bedside” research and treatment of childhood cancers and other life-threatening diseases.

• St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push overall survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to 80 percent today. The current St. Jude survival rates for selected childhood cancers now include:

Diagnosis Current St. Jude Survival Rate
Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL - cancer of the blood)                     94%
Hodgkin lymphoma (cancer of the lymph system)                                     90%
Medulloblastoma (a type of brain tumor)                                                   85%
Wilms tumor (kidney tumor)                                                                         90%

• St. Jude revolutionized pediatric cancer treatment around the world with its groundbreaking use of a combination of chemotherapy, radiation and surgery to treat childhood cancers.

• Peter C. Doherty, PhD, of the St. Jude Immunology department, won the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1996. He shares the award with Rolf M. Zinkernagel, MD, of the University of Zurich. Their findings have led to breakthroughs in the understanding and treatment of viral infections and cancers, and in the development of organ transplant procedures and vaccines.

• St. Jude patients are referred by a physician, and generally have a disease currently under study and are eligible to be enrolled in a current research protocol or clinical research trials.

• In addition to childhood cancers, St. Jude researchers and doctors are treating children with genetic immune defects and pediatric AIDS, as well as using new drugs and therapies to fight infections.

• The hospital's International Outreach Program transfers the progress achieved in the treatment of childhood cancer in developed countries to those with limited resources. As of July 2010, St. Jude has 20 partner sites in 15 countries, and more than 23,000 registered users from 175 countries have accessed Cure4Kids.org, an Internet-based distance learning initiative. In addition, St. Jude trains thousands of medical professionals around the world through consultations, faculty visits to St. Jude and Cure4Kids.

• The medical and scientific staff published more than 680 articles in academic journals in 2010, more than any other pediatric cancer research center in the United States. St. Jude’s researchers are published and cited more often in high impact publications than any other private pediatric oncology institution in America.

• St. Jude was the first institution to produce a cure for sickle cell disease with a bone marrow transplant and has one of the largest pediatric sickle cell disease programs in the country.

• St. Jude is a World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza Viruses in Animals and Birds.

• The St. Jude faculty includes three National Academy of Sciences members: Peter C. Doherty, PhD, of Immunology; Charles Sherr, MD, PhD, of Tumor Cell Biology; and Robert Webster, PhD, of Infectious Diseases. Sherr and Brenda Schulman, PhD, Structural Biology, hold the coveted title of Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators.

• The St. Jude faculty includes six members of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences: William E. Evans, PharmD, St. Jude director and chief executive officer; Arthur Nienhuis, MD, of Hematology and former director and CEO; Charles Sherr, MD, PhD, of Tumor Cell Biology; Peter C. Doherty, PhD, of Immunology; Michael Kastan, MD, PhD, Comprehensive Cancer Center director; and Mary Relling, PharmD, chair of St. Jude Pharmaceutical Sciences.

• St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the National Cancer Institute-funded Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Children's Cancer Survivor Study. St. Jude also is the coordinating center for a national study of sickle cell disease treatment funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute.

last updated February 2011