Why I support St. Jude:

A few months after she started first grade, my daughter Rachel was diagnosed with Aplastic Anemia and because a St. Jude patient. Aplastic Anemia is a disease where the immune system attacks the bone marrow and you cannot make blood. Initial treatments didn't work on her. And after many months of hospitalizations, clinic visits, and treatments that didn't work, she needed a bone marrow transplant. The bone marrow transplant is a success and now she's a healthy college graduate and working in Iowa City. This year, I'll be participating in the St. Jude Run again with Rachel.

A very important reason I run is because of the research that St. Jude does. When St. Jude started in 1962, the survival rate for childhood cancer was less than 20%. Doctors could only prescribe approved medicines for childhood cancer. These medicines didn't work well. St. Jude, and other research hospitals, have developed new treatments and medicines that have significantly improved this survival rate. Now the survival rate for childhood cancer is above 80%. And St. Jude provides these treatments without billing the patients family.

Research like this helped Rachel. She was patient number one in a study for Aplastic Anemia. We were told that she would be in the hospital for at least 30 days after the transplant. She was out in 2 1/2 weeks. Throughout the entire treatment, doctors made sure that we knew what was happening and were comfortable with it. The treatment plan in this study is now regarded as a breakthrough treatment.

Would you please support St. Jude in their efforts to help save the lives of children with life threatening disease? Consider making a tax-deductible donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Your generous donation and my running are the easy parts. The children battling life threatening diseases at St. Jude have the tough part.