Winter 2006
Amazing
Grace
page 4
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was founded by the late
entertainer Danny Thomas. It opened February 4, 1962. The institution was created because
Department of Public Relations
St. Jude Childrenʼs Research Hospital
332 N. Lauderdale St.
Memphis, Tennessee 38105
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of a promise Thomas made during the depression era to St. Jude Thaddeus, the patron saint
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Thaddeus a shrine. That shrine became a world-class research institution that treats children
Director of Public Relations
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name of this magazine,
ALSAC Vice President
of Communications
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ALSAC/St. Jude
Senior Vice President of
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Public Relations
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regardless of race, color, creed or their ability to pay. This remarkable event also inspired the
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ALSAC Chief Executive Officer
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“Show me my way in life,” Thomas prayed. In return, Thomas promised to build St. Jude
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Photographers and Illustrators
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St. Jude Childrenʼs Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
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Photo Editor
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Editorial Advisory Board
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Art Director
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Guest Author
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Publications Manager and Editor
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Contributing Writers
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Features
Hospital Director and
Chief Executive Officer
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of the hopeless.
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Perspective
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Highlights
Snappy synapses
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Nature Neuroscience
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Ink4c
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Genes & Development
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Critical collaboration
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St. Jude takes care of children. That care can
mean chemotherapy treatment for cancer,
tutoring help so a child doesn’t fall behind in
school, a hug on a bad day or tending to the
needs of pediatric cancer patients displaced
because of Hurricane Katrina. More than 125
children whose cancer treatment was disrupted
because of the catastrophe received care at
St. Jude affiliates in Louisiana or, like the
mother and child below, were flown to Memphis
for treatment. Reporter Lisa Ling (at left)
interviewed St. Jude National Outreach Director
Marlo Thomas and several patients whose care
was disrupted by Katrina. The segment was
aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
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Clever combination
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Clinical Cancer
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Cancer Cell
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p53
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Construction of the hospital’s Integrated Patient Care and Research Building (IPCRB) continues to progress. The
facility will house the Department of Radiological Sciences, provide space for new research laboratories and
accommodate the expansion of inpatient activities. The 300,000-square-foot facility is scheduled for completion
in June 2007.
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DNA.
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BMT
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Transplants and teeth
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Stem cells and brain
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Research with muscle
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Journal of Cell Biology
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Transplantation
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Bone Marrow
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Amazing
Grace
FROM A ROADSIDE IN RURAL CHINA TO THE HEART OF A MISSISSI
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THE JOURNEY OF ANNA GRACE DAVIS IS JUST BEGINNING.
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BY RUTH ANN HENSLEY
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The long and winding road
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Every queen has her loyal subjects, and Anna Grace is no different. Today, her
entourage consists of her baby doll and her parents, Nancy and Greg Davis.
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The faith factor
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As the World Turns
All My Children One Life to Live The
Young and the Restless General Hospital
Guiding Light Another World The Bold
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As the World Turns. B
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Annie
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and the Beautiful Days of Our Lives
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St. Jude patient Cody Bigos pauses with actress Martha Byrne of As the World Turns at the
Daytime Television Salutes St. Jude fund-raising event. The second-largest gathering of
daytime TV stars has raised more than $1 million since its inception.
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Even as a toddler
undergoing treatment,
Anna Grace stole the
hearts of St. Jude staff.
“Truly, she’s precious,”
says Maryam Fouladi, MD,
of St. Jude HematologyOncology. “Everyone in
the clinic is so thrilled
when Anna Grace comes
because she’s always got
a new act or a new cheer
to share with us. She’s
such an inspiration.”
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BY JOE HANNA
The stars and fans of daytime television embrace the St. Jude mission.
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Daytime TV
Salutes St. Jude
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Saving grace
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Not your average flu
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Flu Fighters
Researchers at St. Jude help the
world prepare for an avian flu
outbreak.
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when
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Looking back for clues
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“Ducks are like the Trojan horse of this virus,” says Robert Webster,
PhD. “They can be infected—spreading this disease around—and
look perfectly healthy and unaffected.” This stained glass window,
which hangs in Webster’s house, illustrates the natural history of the
influenza virus.
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BY V ICTORIA T ILNEY M CD ONOUGH
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In the summer of 2005, Webster (at left) and his team set up a surveillance site in Lao, one of the least
developed countries in Asia. Many flu experts like Webster say that a worldwide epidemic, or pandemic,
is inevitable.
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“You can’t be prepared for every rare event, but we do know that there is
a history of influenza, a pattern of recurrence. It behooves us to put our
ducks in a row, as it were.”
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The science of art
Prevention: antiviral drugs
Prevention: vaccines
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Traditions are hard to break
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SETH DIXON
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Webster directs the World
Health Organization (WHO)
Collaborating Laboratory
on the Ecology of Influenza
Viruses in Lower Animals and
Birds. Located at St. Jude, it’s
the world’s only lab designed
to study flu at the animalhuman interface.
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Trait
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Prox1
in vivo
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Why is Guillermo Oliver, PhD, studying
adult-onset obesity? Occasionally,
investigations conducted at St. Jude lead
to revolutionary discoveries in other areas.
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A growing problem
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B Y B O N N I E K O U RV ELA S
Are you fated to be fat? The loss of one
gene may tip the scales toward obesity.
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The
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Why weight?
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JOSHUA STOKES
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Dark clouds
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Hurricane evacuee Mason King finds safe harbor at St. Jude.
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BY V ICTORIA T ILNEY M CD ONOUGH
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The first hug
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“Mason just makes your day when he lights up with that little smile,”
says speech-language pathologist Sarah Zoerink (at left), Rehabilitation
Services, who is working with Mason to improve his feeding and
language skills. Mason’s mother, D’Anna is pictured in the background.
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ANN-MARGARET HEDGES
Another hurricane
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His life was saved by people he didn’t know. Now Elias
Skovron helps save the lives of children he has never met.
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Morning people
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Never Forget
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By the time Katrina hit New Orleans, tiny Mason King had already faced one
hurricane—a diagnosis of hepatoblastoma, a liver tumor. Nevertheless, he
has retained his sunny disposition. “One of my favorite things to tell people
about Mason is that, even this little, he’s a morning person,” says his mom,
D’Anna. “I’ll wake up and say, ‘Good morning, Mason.’ He’ll roll over and have
this smile on his face like, ‘Good morning, I’m ready to start some trouble!’”
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To learn about more ways to give, call
ALSAC Gift Planning at (901) 578-2425
or toll free at (800) 830-8119, ext. 2425.
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LAURA HAJAR
Miracles
TWO MORE
ONE OF THEIR CHILDREN HAD DIED OF SICKLE CELL
DISEASE. THE OTHER TWO WERE DES ERATELY ILL
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WITH THE SAME DISORDER. TO WHOM COULD THE
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HERN NDEZ FAMILY TURN FOR HEL
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B Y E LIZABETH J ANE W ALKER
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Maria Fernanda “Mafe” Hernández holds a small
figurine that was given to guests at her mother’s
first communion more than 30 years ago. For
decades, the family experienced numerous
“coincidental” connections with St. Jude Thaddeus.
Then they learned that one hospital could offer
hope to Mafe and her brother. The institution’s
name? St. Jude.
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Reason for hope
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“To my knowledge, we’re the
only place in the world that’s
doing haploidentical
transplants for
sickle cell disease.”
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Two more miracles
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(Facing page, bottom) “This hospital saved my life, and
it will save my sister’s life,” says Nano, pictured with
his 17-year-old sister. Mafe will be the fifth patient in
the world to undergo a haploidentical transplant for
sickle cell disease.
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(Facing page, top) In 2003 Fernando José Hernández,
known as “Nano,” was the second child with sickle cell
disease at St. Jude and in the world to receive a stem
cell transplant using a partially matched parent as a
donor.
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(Above) Paul Woodard, MD, helps Mafe prepare for her
transplant.
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Coming full circle
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Expertise and resources
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LAURA HAJAR
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GETTING THE RIGHT DOSAGE OF A DRUG
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The best dose of
a chemotherapy
drug for one child
is not necessarily the
best dose for another.
St. Jude scientists are
simplifying individualized
therapy for children
with cancer.
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Children eliminate the chemotherapy drug topotecan from their bodies at different rates. A standard dose might help some kids, but in other children,
that same dose might be too low to kill cancer cells or so high that it produces unacceptable side effects. Clinton Stewart, PharmD, of St. Jude
Pharmaceutical Sciences is trying to pinpoint the best dosage of topotecan for kids with neuroblastoma, a tumor of the peripheral nervous tissue.
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A Mother’s Vantage Point
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PHOTOS BY LAURA HAJAR
Perspective
BY SARAH BARKER
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When Micah Grace was a baby, a tumor called neuroblastoma wound around her tiny spinal
column. Physicians feared that she would be paralyzed from the waist down. But thanks to the
care she received at St. Jude, Micah Grace walks, runs and dances her way through life.
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Today, 5-year-old Micah Grace
enjoys coloring and drawing, riding her
bike, playing T-ball, dancing and singing.
She has flown to several states to share
her story. Her goal is to raise “lots of
money for St. Jude so that kids won’t die,
like I didn’t.” She is well on her way to
fulfilling that dream.
Oscar-winning actor Morgan Freeman hangs out with St. Jude kids during the filming of TV
spots for the hospital’s recent Thanks and Giving campaign. In its second year, the program
asked Americans to show thanks for the healthy children in their lives and give to those who are
not. Marlo Thomas, Antonio Banderas, Faith Hill, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ray Romano and Robin
Williams also filmed TV spots and movie trailers as part of the fund-raising campaign.
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