Jewelry industry raises $850,000 for St. Jude

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC)
Sunday, 1 June 2003

Jewelers Charity Fund for Children donates $850,000 to St. Jude at gala event in Las Vegas

On Sunday, June 1, the Jewelers Charity Fund for Children (JCF) presented St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with a check for $850,000. This money is part of a $2 million commitment to fund a chair position in the Cell and Gene Therapy Program at St. Jude.

On hand to help accept the check on behalf of the hospital were Tony Thomas, member of the St. Jude Board of Directors and son of hospital founder Danny Thomas; Olympic Gold medalist, Scott Hamilton; and St. Jude patient Elijah Barr.

During the event, Elijah and his family spoke about their experience at St. Jude and how stem cell transplantation has saved Elijah's life. Elijah has Hurler's syndrome, an extremely rare genetic disorder that breaks down sugar molecule chains. Without his bone marrow and stem cell transplantations, Elijah would not have lived past the age of 5.

"We wanted to invest in a research program because so many children will be affected by the work being performed in the stem cell labs at St. Jude," said Pattie Light, executive director of the Jewelers Charity Fund. "The Jewelers Charity Fund for Children appreciates the involvement of jewelry manufacturers, retailers and related trade associations who are proud to do what they can to help children in need. By funding research, we are giving to something that will provide a better life for children for many years to come."

Since St. Jude began stem cell transplantation in 1989, many advancements have been made in offering patients numerous ways of treating various forms of cancer. The stem cell transplantation labs are pioneering work that will allow patients who do not have readily available donors to proceed to transplant by receiving grafts from mismatched family members. In addition, immune studies being performed in the labs will one day allow transplant physicians to harness the power of the immune systems to fight off cancer cells that survive in the transfer process.

Last year, the jewelry industry's charity gave $600,000 to help further lifesaving research performed in the Jewelers Charity Fund for Children Stem Cell Transplantation Laboratory. The money donated to the research labs will help stem cell researchers at St. Jude find new and innovative ways to treat childhood cancer.

For more information, or to contact St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (ALSAC), see their website at: www.stjude.org