On September 14, 2019 there will be a Walk/Run at Amalie Arena (Downtown Tampa) benefitting St. Jude. Some of you may have already seen a few social media posts about this, but I wanted to write a little more about it and how you can get involved (both near and far) to support team CalebTheSuperhero!
First of all there are walk/runs held in many major cities throughout the month of September to raise awareness for Childhood Cancer and to benefit St. Jude. As I know first hand, Childhood Cancer can happen to any family anywhere in the country, and it’s something you would never expect to happen to you. To know that cities around the country support St. Jude’s research is absolutely amazing. This is because St. Jude shares it’s discoveries freely with hospitals around the world, so supporting St. Jude is saving children everywhere. In fact, since 1962 St. Jude has increased the overall cancer survival rate from 20% to 80%. We know about this first hand, as Caleb was given a 10-30% chance of survival locally, and now with his current treatment at St. Jude we have been told there is an 80% chance that his cancer will never come back!!! Without St. Jude’s advanced research, access to clinical trials, and a Neuro-Oncologist who specializes in AT/RT, I don’t know where we would be right now. But the good thing is we don’t have to think about that because Caleb has the best chance of survival because of St. Jude.
On top of the research aspect of St. Jude, they take care of the financial burden that is usually placed on families with sick children. When hearing about St. Jude you may have heard the phrase “families never receive a bill for treatment”. I am not sure I fully understood or grasped the importance of this before we experienced it first hand. But donations made to St. Jude don’t just go to research, they also go to help the families. On top of never sending a bill for medical treatment, St. Jude also provides a meal card, covers travel expenses, and provides housing to families. We are very fortunate that James was able to keep his job but many families we have met here went from a 2 person household income to no income. In many cases both parents had to quit their jobs to be able to move to Memphis and be with their child. The financial support from St. Jude was so comforting, especially in the early days of us arriving here when we didn’t have anything sorted out and we were still in “crisis mode”.
I could go on and on all day about the amazing care we get at St. Jude, but all of you already know how important this place is to us. So there are many ways you can join me in giving back. First, if you are local to Tampa you can walk with team CalebTheSuperhero on September 14th! If you are not able to be at the walk, or aren’t local to Tampa, you can still support our team by giving online. I will go through the steps on how to do all of that…
WALK WITH US: If you are local to Tampa PLEASE come walk with us!!! You can sign up by visiting the link below and clicking “Register and Join Team”.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!
STEP 1: If you’ve registered for a St. Jude event before then Log In. If you have not participated in a St. Jude event before then Create An Account.
STEP 2: There is a $10 entry fee for the walk and a $20 entry fee for the 5k run. Choose whichever you prefer to do and pay the entry fee online. By doing this you will be registered for the event and a part of team CalebTheSuperhero! This page will also ask you to set your fundraising goal, or if you would like you can make a personal donation. You do not have to do either to participate in the walk, but of course as a team we would like to support St. Jude as much as we can. No amount is too small. All of our donations will add up to helping the kids of St. Jude.
STEP 3: Fill out your personal information for your account.
STEP 4: Agree to the terms and conditions of the waiver.
STEP 5: Review your registration.
STEP 6: Make your Payment.
STEP 7: You’re in! You will receive your confirmation and registration summary.
STEP 8: If you chose to set a fundraising goal, you can now connect your fundraising page to Facebook. This makes it easier to share and easier for people to contribute to your goal.
That’s it! Now that you have a St. Jude account you can log in any time at fundraising.stjude.org to see details about the event and check your fundraising progress. You can also update your personal page with why you are passionate about raising money for St. Jude. Our personal page has Caleb’s story, and we walk for him and so many others that are fighting this tough battle.
IF YOU CAN’T BE WITH US IN PERSON: You can still support team CalebTheSuperhero. You can donate to James’ fundraising page or my fundraising page at the links below. All donations will help our team meet our fundraising goal and go straight to the kids of St. Jude.
Christina’s Fundraising Page: http://walkrun.stjude.org/christina_grimsley
James’ Fundraising Page: http://walkrun.stjude.org/james_grimsley
Whether you are walking, running, donating, cheering for us, or praying for us we appreciate you!!! We not only walk for Caleb, but also all the other families we have gotten to know at St. Jude. It takes $2.8 million a day to run St. Jude, and the majority of those contributions come from individual donors, not large corporations. So no matter what the amount you have to give, it all adds up and makes a huge difference. Thank you again, and we hope to see you September 14th at the walk!!!
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