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A St. Jude Survivor Story

If you stopped by and read A Challenge To You! you know about the St. Jude Radiothon that we had here in Daytona this week.

Our Bikes and Blues Committee was invited to join the DJ's in the studio this morning to talk about our St. Jude events that we held in April and how much money we raised, along with how many tireless hours we put in year long to get these events off the ground.

If you know me, you know I was taking photos, but this time I got to be in a couple too!

I then went to see how hard the volunteers from Embrey Riddle University were working on the phones.

As I left, the total raised so far was around $22,000. While at work I had the show on my computer and listened to the different stories during the day.

About 3ish I heard new voices on the air. A young girl named Tori and her grandmother Carol had stopped by to tell Tory's story about how the Doctors at St. Jude had saved her life.

When Tori was 4 a tumor the size of a small football was found in her chest. The Doctor here in Florida had given Tori 48 hours to live. Carol made a phone call and the next thing she knew she was on her way with Tori to Memphis, TN and St. Jude Children's Hospital.

Tori is now 9 years old and cancer free.

They were still at the station at 5 when I left work, I went back to the station, I wanted to meet this special girl!

It was such a honor to meet Carol and Tori. Carol told me when she arrived at St. Jude and checked in, the first thing she did was go to make arrangements to pay. When she asked where she was to go to do that she was told "You don't have to pay for anything". She told me she was so shocked, Carol had no idea that treatment is free at St. Jude. She was so relieved as she had to quit her job to bring Tori up to Memphis.

Tori spent 3 years on chemo, she was sick from the chemo every day of those 3 years. Tori beat the cancer though and now she is a healthy happy 9 year old girl.

She would come bouncing into the studio and up to the microphone to say thank you for supporting St. Jude. and bounce back out just as fast. She was hard to catch to get a photo of! That didn't matter though! All that mattered to me was I got meet her.

As I left at 6pm the total from WHOG raised over the last two days was just over $50,000.

There were two stations involved, this I didn't know.WHOG.FM and 93.1 KRO. Hopefully they hit $100,000 with both stations!

You don't have to wait for an event like a radiothon to become a Partner In Hope. You can do it online at the St. Jude website, and gives kids like Tori a chance to live.

Bikes & Blues With Mickey Jones, The Bike Run for St Jude Hospital

Bikes & Blues With Mickey Jones, The Bike Run for St Jude Hospital Part 2

Photos from The Mickey Jones Golf Classic for St Jude

Posted by Lysa Napolitano, Call Coordinator ~ Century 21 Sundance on 06/15/2007 09:29 PM

Comments (10)

Daytona Beach Charity Events in the Regional (Localism) Channel

st jude childrens resarch hospital, radiothon, partners in hope, cancer survior

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10 Comments on A St. Jude Survivor Story

JUN

2007

Lysa~

We're getting our gang together the first of the week and making a contribution...THX for the inspiration and the photos!

JUN

2007

Great pictures, very inspirational. It is wonderful how much you do for St. Jude.

Lysa, you are an incredible person. You give so much of yourself and keep reminding us that we can all make a difference. Thanks for this great post. You are a true inspiration.

janeAnne!! Thank you so much!! You can make a donation of a single gift here. Thanks again, you put a HUGE smile on my face!!!

Randy, Thank you so much. Steve and I are blessed to have healthy families... some people aren't so blessed. We do what we can as a couple with the Partner In Hope program, but that is only $20 a month. This is why I give up my time too, St. Jude is so worth it. I know both are appreciated by St. Jude, their staff, the patients and the families.

Maggie, there isn't anything incredible about me, I just believe in Danny's Dream. He was right when he said "No child should die in the dawn of life." Danny Thomas is the incredible person, and all the kids at St. Jude too.
Yes, we can make a difference, we need to make a difference. Children around the world rely on us to make a difference :)

By the way~St. Jude FREELY shares its research with hospitals around the country and the world.