St Jude

Convention attendees will have the opportunity to dig for zombie eyeballs, have a souvenir picture taken with zombie props, and win autographed memorabilia from The Walking Dead cast members, with proceeds benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

Friends & Fans for St. Jude is proud to again represent St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital as the official charity partner for the Boston Walker Stalker Convention, June 13–15, 2014, at the Westin Waterfont. The volunteer group will promote their “Raising Spirits for St. Jude” campaign with a post-apocalypse exhibit booth featuring family-friendly activities.

Friends & Fans for St. Jude was formed in 2006 to raise money and awareness for the children’s hospital via music events in central Illinois. In 2010 the “Raising Spirits” campaign was launched, bringing together the paranormal and horror communities to further support the group’s efforts. Volunteers representing the charity at the convention are all fans of The Walking Dead, and they promise their booth will be fun and interactive.

The “Raising Spirits” exhibit will feature a souvenir photo booth with zombie props, “Digging for Zombies” display ($1 per dig, every dig wins), drawings for autographed memorabilia from cast members of The Walking Dead, and other exciting activities.

All proceeds raised at the convention booth will be donated to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. To learn more about “Raising Spirits for St. Jude,” visit raisingspirits.org.

St Jude Facts

No Place Like St. Jude

    Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing and food – because all a family should worry about is helping their child live.

    Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since it opened in 1962.

    St. Jude is working to drive the overall survival rate for childhood cancer to 90 percent in the next decade. We won’t stop until no child dies from cancer.

    St. Jude freely shares the breakthroughs we make, and every child saved at St. Jude means doctors and scientists worldwide can use that knowledge to save thousands more children.

    Because the majority of St. Jude funding comes from individual contributors, St. Jude has the freedom to focus on what matters most – saving kids regardless of their financial situation.

    St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that “No child should die in the dawn of life.”

Pioneering Treatments

    St. Jude is where doctors send their toughest cases because St. Jude has the world’s best survival rates for the most aggressive childhood cancers.

    We are a top national referral center for children with tough-to-treat forms of cancer or who have not responded successfully to standard treatments.

    St. Jude is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children.

    St. Jude has helped increase the survival rates for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) from 4% before opening in 1962 to 94% today.

    We develop new treatments that reduce side effects while maintaining or improving outcomes, so that survivors of childhood cancer can have the best possible long-term health.

    Because we have seen our patients with brain tumors improve dramatically through proton therapy, we are building the world’s first proton therapy center dedicated solely to treating children.

    St. Jude researchers and doctors have research and treatment programs for children with pediatric HIV and AIDS, as well as using new drugs and therapies to fight related infections.

    St. Jude was the first institution to develop 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 was the first pediatric cancer research center in the U.S. with an on-site current Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) facility, which produces innovative biopharmaceuticals and other products for use in St. Jude-led clinical trials.

Leading-Edge Research

    St. Jude is a world leader in developing new, improved treatments for children with cancer. We create more clinical trials for cancer than any other children’s hospital.

    We also research areas of medicine that pose a risk to children with cancer, such as infectious diseases.

    Through the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project, we have completed whole genome sequencing of more than 700 pediatric cancers along with 700 matched normal genomes from the same children. This bold project has produced significant discoveries for children with tough-to-treat cancers.

    In May 2012, St. Jude released the largest-ever compilation of comprehensive whole genome human cancer data for access by the global scientific community (4,200 billion pieces of data).

    A gene therapy treatment invented by St. Jude and given as a single treatment allows adults with hemophilia B to cease ongoing, expensive injections. This new treatment is expected to be adapted for children and for other diseases.

    St. Jude medical and scientific staff published more than 800 articles published in peer-reviewed journals in 2012. That’s an average of one published paper every 11 hours sharing new research findings.

    St. Jude is the national coordinating center for the Pediatric Brain Tumor Consortium and the Childhood Cancer Survivor Study, both funded by the National Cancer Institute.

    St. Jude is the coordinating center for a national study of sickle cell disease treatment funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

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

By the Numbers

    St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and around the world.

    On average, St. Jude has more than 67,000 patient visits each year.

    St. Jude published 775 research articles in peer-reviewed journals in 2012. That equals, on average, a new discovery shared every 11 hours.

    St. Jude has been recognized by FORTUNE magazine as one of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” by The Scientist as one of the top 10 “Best Places to Work in Academia,” and by U.S. News & World Report and Parents magazine as a top children’s cancer hospital.

    The daily operating cost for St. Jude is $1.9 million, which is primarily covered by individual contributions.

For more information please visit the official St Jude Fact page.