A young boy sits in a wheelchair, a blue ballcap covering his head. A man, most likely his father, gently rubs the boy's legs.  Just a few feet away, a woman lovingly strokes a girl's back. The girl sits slumped over, her head in her hands.  The faces of these children, these families, show signs of stress, exhaustion, fear.  Yet in this place where they wait and worry - St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis - there also is hope.

Hope can be found in the hands of the doctors, nurses and other hospital workers who not only provide life-saving treatments, but also comfort in a simple touch or smile.  It can be found in the minds of the scientists who work tirelessly to find better treatments for the catastrophic diseases that bring hundreds of children to Memphis each day.  It can be found on the hospital's walls, where the names of countless donors are engraved as a reminder that generosity can make a profound difference in people's lives.  It can be found in the eyes of first-time visitors - including five from Quincy, Ill., - who are inspired to return home and convince as many people as they can to support the cause.  And, of course, it can be found in the hearts of the patients and their families.  Hope, indeed, can be found on this sprawling, 60-acre campus, in this place that the late entertainer Danny Thomas founded in 1962 because of his belief that "No child should die in the dawn of life."

Fulfilling a promise

Danny Thomas was a struggling young entertainer when he knelt in a Detroit church before a statue of St. Jude Thaddeus - the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes - and promised the saint he would build him a shrine if he would show him his way in life.

The prayer was answered and Thomas moved his family to Chicago to pursue a career in show business. He would go on to become a television and film star, and his most famous role was in "Make Room for Daddy."  His promise to St. Jude was delivered in the form of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.  In 1957, Thomas founded the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC), which became the fundraising arm of St. Jude. Five years later, the hospital opened its doors.  Since opening, St. Jude has treated children from all 50 states and more than 70 foreign countries. Its mission is to find cures for children with catastrophic diseases, mainly cancer, through research and treatment.  About 4,900 patients are seen yearly, and most are treated on an outpatient basis as part of ongoing research programs. The hospital maintains 60 inpatient beds and treats about 230 patients each day.  St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatments that are not covered by insurance, and families without insurance are never asked to pay.  The hospital also pays for lodging, food and travel for patients and their families.  "The work being done here is just remarkable," said Donna Young, who works for ALSAC. "And we never ask a penny from the patient's family."

Young recently served as a tour guide for a group of people who are involved in St. Jude Runs, a major fundraising effort for the hospital.  Each August, runners participate in a unique, 465-mile event, the St. Jude Memphis to Peoria Run, which takes them from the Memphis hospital to its Midwest Affiliate in Peoria, Ill. In addition, auxiliary runs take off from various Illinois and Missouri communities, including Quincy.

For the first time, run co-founder Mike McCoy and other St. Jude Run officials were able to coordinate a bus trip to Memphis for run coordinators, runners and volunteers.  McCoy, of Peoria, said it was a way to say thank you for their fundraising efforts, and to show them where the money goes.  "You can't really imagine, unless you see the facility, what everybody's hard work and fundraising goes to," said Rick Meehan, run coordinator for the St. Jude Quincy to Peoria Run. "It makes you realize how fortunate you area and it makes you strive to raise more money."  In addition to Meehan, the Quincy contingent on the bus trip included Meehan's wife, Becky, volunteers Mildred Becks and Rebecca Stump and Herald-Whig reporter Kelly Wilson, as well as volunteers from Bloomington/Normal, LaSalle/Peru, Springfield, Lincoln, Champaign/Urbana, Galesburg, Pekin, Peoria, St. Louis and the Tri-County area.

"It's overwhelming to be there," Stump said. "It becomes so much more real to be there, to see the kids. You're left in awe in how the whole process works."  Stump, who was a runner/fundraiser in the first two years of the Quincy run, says she initially got involved because she thought it was for a good cause.  Now, she knows for sure.

"You become so much more passionate about it," she said. "It makes you go the extra mile."  Becks, who will take part in the event for the first time this year, left Memphis with a strong incentive to raise funds.  "I can't imagine going through that with one of my children," said Becks, who has three daughters. She was impressed with how much support the patients and families receive, from housing and food to multiple activities that bring some fun into the children's lives while they're fighting cancer or other diseases.  "Everything was just so well thought out," Becks said. "It's amazing the love and care they give to these families to make sure they're comfortable."

Meehan, after walking through the Target House, a residential facility that gives long-term patients and families a home-like place to stay, shook his head in amazement.  "And all of this from one man's dream."

Focusing on childhood cancer

Dr. Joe Mirro, chief medical officer at St. Jude, says the hospital's major focus is pediatric cancer.  "We try to focus on the diseases where we can make the most significant impact," he said.  "We're not competing with children's hospitals," Mirro added. "We're focused on one thing, finding the biological reason for catastrophic diseases, mostly cancer."  Mirro says St. Jude employs about 3,200 people, with a little more than a third providing clinical care. "We have 96 employed physicians and 100 additional consultants," he said.  One-third of employees are involved in laboratory research and the remainder are support staff.  St. Jude pioneered a combination of chemotherapy, radiation and, when necessary, surgery to treat childhood cancers. About 80 percent of St. Jude patients have a cancer diagnosis.  The hospital continues to expand the use of bone marrow transplantation as a treatment for pediatric cancers and genetic diseases. It was the first institution to cure sickle cell disease with a bone marrow transplant, and is the first to receive government approval for a unique transplant procedure that makes it possible for parents who are not exact matches to be donors for the children.  The bone marrow transplant program enables doctors to perform about 185 transplants per year.  In addition to pediatric cancer research, St. Jude focuses on some acquired and inherited immunodeficiencies, infectious diseases and genetic disorders.  Mirro says St. Jude currently has 400 open research protocols.  Current research includes work in gene therapy, bone marrow transplantation, chemotherapy, the biochemistry of normal and cancerous cells, radiation treatment, blood diseases, resistance to therapy, viruses, hereditary diseases, influenza, pediatric AIDS and psychological effects of catastrophic illnesses.  St. Jude also conducts long-term biostatistical investigations on its patients and is the only pediatric research hospital that has been awarded a National Cancer Institute cancer center support grant.  Research efforts since the hospital's inception have brought survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to more than 70 percent overall.

Current survival rates for selected childhood cancers are:

* 94 percent for acute lymphoblastic leukemia;

* 90 percent for Hodgkin disease;

* 85 percent for medulloblastoma (brain tumor); and

* 90 percent for Wilms tumor (kidney tumor).

The 94 percent survival rate for ALL, the most common form of childhood cancer, compares to a 4 percent survival rate in 1962.

Mirro stresses that research findings at St. Jude are shared with doctors and scientists all over the world.  "The benefits are communal benefits," he said. "If you give your money in Quincy, it is benefiting Quincy."  Mirro, who has participated in two Memphis to Peoria runs, says fundraising is vital to the hospital's operations. It takes $1.2 million to operate the hospital for just one day, and that comes mostly from public contributions.  "If we didn't have the support of people like you, we couldn't do it,"  Mirro told those on the bus trip. "Without you, we close off 70 percent of the operations. It's critical we have your support."  Dave Selzer, ALSAC regional director in Peoria, also thanked the volunteers for their fundraising efforts.  "Without the money you've raised, we couldn't do the job our families need us to do," he said. "But it's not about the money. It's about the lives that you've saved and the hope you've raised."

Caring for families

While science and technology are the driving forces behind St. Jude's success, the compassion shown to patients and their families also makes an impact.  "They really care about people," said Josh Smith of Winchester, Ill., whose 13-year-old son, Jake, is being treated for a brain tumor at St. Jude - for the second time.  "Not only do they give you first-class treatment, they have so many activities," Smith said. "Jake likes playing putt putt, and they had a place to go play."  When Jake was at St. Jude the first time, at age 5, the family lived at the Target House.  The Target Corp. partnered with St. Jude to open the facility in 1999.  Since then, 510 families from 38 states and 26 countries have lived there - at no cost.  Target House is for patients and their families who have to stay in Memphis for treatment long-term, which is three months or more. A St. Jude tour guide said some families have stayed for up to five years.  It can accommodate up to 96 families at a time in apartment guest suites that feature separate bedrooms, kitchens and living rooms.  Target House features lavish common areas where families can relax and spend time with their children. There's the Tiger Woods library and pavilion, the Amy Grant music room, indoor and outdoor play areas, a teen room and a garden patio.  Figure skater Scott Hamilton donated a family fitness center and spa, as well as an arts and crafts room where patients can use their imagination to create artwork, some of which is displayed in a hall gallery.  One piece by a patient was an image of the Target House titled, "Close to Home."  Target House is just one part of St. Jude's housing program. The NBA's Memphis Grizzlies partnered with the hospital to open the Memphis Grizzlies House in 2004, a hotel-like environment for patients undergoing treatment from one to seven days.  The five-story Grizzlies House can accommodate up to 100 families at a time. An enclosed playground and basketball half-court are located outside the facility.  Selzer says St. Jude patients have a third housing option, the Ronald McDonald House, for medium-length stays.  The focus on comfort also can be seen in the hospital itself.  Brightly-colored murals cover the walls to give children a cheery environment. Waiting rooms have play areas.  Young, the hospital tour guide, says St. Jude staff go to great lengths to ensure that "the children can be children."

Patients play a role in the hospital's decor. Their artwork hangs on walls.  One striking, memorable part of the hospital is the "ABCs of Cancer" wall, which was created about seven or eight years ago.  The wall features 26 posters, one for each letter of the alphabet. Patients wrote down thoughts that coincided with each of the letters.

The poster with the letter "V" draws the most attention: "V is for vomet  (sic) ... I sit and wait but it's just to late," a patient writes.  Some are poignant: "T is for tears ... we cry when we lose some one we love."  Some are filled with hope: "L is for 'Lil Miracles - small things that happen."  Meehan personally knows two 'lil miracles. Spencer Waters and Jacob Sorrill, both of Liberty, Ill., were treated at St. Jude for bilateral Wilms tumor - and both are healthy boys today.

"I always remember Nancy and Kathy (the boys' mothers) saying St. Jude is awesome for the families," Meehan said. "Now I know what they meant."