St. Jude 2005 Telethon

BIG NEWS: The annual St. Jude Memphis to Peoria run, which is a well known fund raiser for St. Jude happens August 6th. As part of this, TV25 in Peoria helps put up billboards all over central Illinois. This year David and several other children were selected to be in the billboard. When they go up, look at the weather man, Lee Ranson, and you’ll see David sitting on his lap. It was quite an experience to go into the TV studios and meet all the news people we’ve watched for years.

I will be sending out an appeal on behalf of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital this year to coincide with the telethon. I’ll be on the air at 7:30 to 8:30 PM August 6th. My telethon number will be 309-763-6922 for that hour only. There is research going on at St. Jude right now which may help bring the cure rate for leukemia for children close to 100%. It’s now being quoted at 85%. I have to say that of all the hospitals I’ve seen St. Jude is very unique. They have world leaders in multiple fields working together with primary research capabilities on all of the terminal cancers-with a special focus on children. Did you know that when China had the SARS scare a few years ago there were three doctors flown in from
the USA to help stop it. The head of St. Jude’s infectious disease department was one of the three. I could go on and on for a long time about the virtues of St. Jude’s medical care. Suffice it to say this, that If you are interested in investing in children’s cancer research, it is cutting edge, world class treatment.

The goal they’ve asked me to meet as a VIP for this years Telethon is to raise $1,000 for the telethon. I think we can beat that by quite a bit. All of the proceeds will go directly to St. Jude in Memphis. The Memphis hospital funds the Peoria clinic fees not covered by insurance.

For those of you in Central Illinois, St. Jude Midwest Affiliate in Peoria cares for about 70 children who have cancer. In the past year we’ve lost about 6 of those children. More children are being diagnosed with cancer each year. I’m honored and excited that the clinic staff has chosen us to represent them on TV this year.