LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – For 60 years, the Children’s Research Hospital of St. Jude has been working not only to treat childhood cancer, but to defeat it all together.
WKYT has teamed up with St. Jude to give away their dream home and for $100 you could win a brand new home.
In June, WKYT’s Amber Philpott traveled to Memphis, Tenn., to visit St. Jude and to learn more about a facility that instills hope in families facing the most difficult situations.
It is a house that is being built with a purpose and an opportunity to help a facility hundreds of miles away.
The soon-to-be 2,600-square-foot house under construction in the Home Place subdivision off Polo Club Boulevard in Hamburg is St. Jude from builder DB Homes.
With every wall erected and window installed, it is what the house represents that sets it apart.
It’s a house with a purpose for a place that loves people like Bess Atkinson.
“And I used to say I miss Memphis, I miss St. Jude, because it’s a home, it’s a family,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson can’t say enough good things about St. Jude She was a patient there in the 1990s, after noticing her collarbone was enlarged when she was 10 years old.
“That’s when I was diagnosed in January 1994 with myxoid angioblastoma, which are tumors inside the blood vessels inside the bone and I have 1 to 10 cases worldwide,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson and his family could have received treatment in the north, where they lived, but instead came to St. Jude and now, aged 39, owes his life to the hospital.
“We found out later, after I went down to St. Jude and had treatment, that I had over 30 tumors all over my body. So if it wasn’t for St. Jude, I probably wouldn’t be here talking about it today or I would be in a wheelchair and not be able to live my life to the fullest now,” said Atkinson.
“The mission here at St. Jude is to treat and end childhood cancer, but it’s also about inspiring patients and it’s something that stays with them long after they leave here,” said Amber Philpott.
Many times former patients like Atkinson and others find their way back to St. Jude, not to get treatment, but to work and give hope to others like them.
Emily Hines’ life was saved in St. Jude, it was convenient for her to come back here to work and help spread the mission.
“I get to tell stories and that’s what I love the most, like I’m sitting here with you today telling my story, but the best thing about my job is that I make sure other patients hear their stories too because I think they are all incredibly unique,” Hines said.
Every day work is being done to save lives within the walls of St. Jude and that’s why the walls of this dream house in Lexington are so important.
With every dollar raised, this house with a purpose helps continue the mission of a hospital that prescribes hope every day.
“It’s so hard to find heroes these days, St. Jude is always my hero, I could always look at them and see a hero in St. Jude,” Atkinson said.
The drawing for the Lexington Dream Home is October 13, 2022 and we will have updates on the home in the coming weeks.
The earlier you buy your ticket, the more prizes you can get.
Copyright 2022 WKYT. All rights reserved.
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