We are happy to share our wedding with the kids of St. Jude.
St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other deadly diseases.
Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent to more than 80 percent since we opened more than 50 years ago.
We have decided to support St. Judes because of Ann's family history with the hospital. In the late 1950s, Danny Thomas wished to fulfill a vow he made at the beginning of his career as a comedian. He had promised to build a “shrine” as thanks for whatever success he achieved in his endeavors. That “shrine” was to be St. Jude Hospital. He was successful enough to afford to build the hospital, but couldn’t afford the cost to operate it, which was five times the cost to build it – annually! He also wanted the Arab-American community to be involved.
Ann's Great Uncle, Mike Tamer, was the president of the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), a group of Arab-American social clubs who sponsored various charities. Mr. Tamer went to ALSAC and proposed they “adopt” St. Jude Hospital as their cause for all future funding. That’s when ALSAC became Aiding Leukemia Stricken American Children and Ann's Great Uncle became its first National Director. Ann's Grandmother, Sadie Shikany, was the Treasurer of ALSAC until the middle 1970s when my Great Uncle died. Ann's Grandfather, Alfred Shikany, was the Chairman of the local ALSAC chapter in Indianapolis for this same period.
In order to continue the family tradition, we are pleased to include St. Jude as a part of our wedding registry.