St. Jude Children Research Hospital embodies a simple belief: "no child should die in the dawn of life." At first, these words sound like wishful thinking. Of course, no child should die. If we lived in a perfect world, no child would suffer. But when these words were first uttered by Danny Thomas, he was full of more than just wishful thinking. He had a vision to change the world and a plan to back it up and, over the last fifty years, St. Jude has done just that.

St. Jude has made such a huge promise in an extremely sensitive area and they have held true to their word. To make their promises a reality, St. Jude has to keep up with scientific advances. They are currently in the process of constructing a new research and patient care tower, that will house a proton therapy center, expanded surgical suites and ICU, a global education and collaboration center, and the St. Jude computational biology department.

There's no doubting that any structure built under the name St. Jude will be an incredible center, but perhaps the most revolutionary development here is the St. Jude Red Frog Events Proton Therapy Center. It's quite a mouthful and you might be wondering what proton therapy even is. Often described by patients as something bordering on science fiction, proton therapy is more precise and potentially more powerful than X-ray technology. For something so powerful, proton therapy actually reduces the possibility of harmful side effects and the development of secondary cancers later in life.

The new tower will also feature the Eric Trump Foundation and ICU Center, with advances in treatments and family-centered care. Surgery space will be expanded by fifty percent, with a nurse charting station in each of the full-size ICU rooms. Family-centered accommodations have also been added to each ICU room.

In their effort to keep their treatments current, as well as advance them, St. Jude is adding a global education and collaboration center where doctors and scientists can gather to generate ideas and share their knowledge with the world. To study the data from the Pediatric Cancer Genome Project and other research forces, the computational biology department will assist in the development of accurate methods.

St. Jude has been changing lives for families all across the country for fifty-two years.Since the doors have opened, the overall childhood cancer survival rate has grown from 20 percent to more than 80 percent. Based on a simple vision based on a belief, St. Jude has grown to a force taking in an average of 67,000 children each year and they're not slowing down any time soon. It might not be a perfect world, but the work that St. Jude does for children certainly brightens dark circumstances.

Become a 'Partner in Hope' call 1-800-372-4999

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