By Eric Stock and Patrick Baron
BLOOMINGTON – Families of children who have benefited from the care of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital say they don’t know what they would do without the financial help it provides.
Families pay nothing because of events like the Radio Bloomington St. Jude Radiothon. Nicole Barnett of Hudson told WJBC’s Scott Laughlin she couldn’t believe it when St. Jude told her all the costs for the care of her young son Nicholas were covered.
“Every travel expense is taken care of, everything is taken care of, and when you lose you job there’s always going to be some kind of income lost,” Barnett said. “This is just an amazing thing.”
Nicole’s son Nicholas is now 13 and has been cancer free since 2012 after undergoing treatment for leukemia for three years.
St. Jude Board Member Cindy Blackburn explained the research shared by St. Jude’s serves to help children around the world.
“It’s amazing just from a research perspective, the focus on the research and sharing all of the research across not just St. Jude’s but across the world,” said Blackburn.
Blackburn added while there are people who primarily think of St. Jude’s as a cancer treatment center, the hospital actually works to eliminate any disease that presents a threat to a child’s life. She also said the cost of running the hospital is $2 million per day, with 75 percent of that cost returning to the hospital due to fundraising events.
The radiothon on WJBC and sister stations WBNQ and B-104 raised a total of $91,285 for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. This year’s radiothon saw an increase from last year’s, where $90,117 was raised.
Eric Stock can be reached at eric.stock@cumulus.com.
Patrick Baron can be reached at patrick.baron@cumulus.com.
