How many st. jude hospitals are there

However, there is more to the hospital than you may realize. Located in Memphis, Tennessee, the hospital was famously founded by the late comedian Danny Thomas.

While struggling to make it in show business, Thomas reportedly had promised to himself that if he ever made it big he would honor St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint of hopeless causes. Today, his daughter, fellow actress Marlo works as the national outreach director for the hospital. The hospital has been helping children for more than half a century — in fact, it recently celebrated its 51 st birthday and shows no signs of slowing down in its fight.

It opened its doors to patients on February 4, Jude has been at the forefront of the battle against cancer. The hospital also has the esteemed honor of being the first to find a cure for sickle cell diease using a bone marrow transplant. The truly amazing thing is that no family ever has to pay a dime to St. Jude shares its research freely with any institution that wants it, and some forms of cancer that were once treated there can now be dealt with at other hospitals around the country.

Patients must also be 18 and under, and have a referral from their doctor. Once a child is admitted their family never sees a bill.

Not for treatment. Not for housing. Not for food. One of the many ways to get involved is totally free. The hospital is located in Memphis, a city that was chosen for its centrality: most people can reach it by car in one day. Many of the patients live at Target House, in apartments with their parents and siblings.

Various celebrities have designed and donated communal rooms, from Shaun White's rust-colored living area to Brad Paisley's hang out, with a table embedded with his guitar picks, to Amy Grant's music room, which houses her Grammy.

A Dreamworks studio and Hasbro-designed playground are also part of the facility. Blue phones sit at the entryway of Target House and in the hospital. They enable families to get translation services in several languages. As our tour guide pointed out, hearing medical terms in your native tongue is tough enough to process, and with international patients and families from all over the world, this is an invaluable service.