St. Jude Children's Research Hospital® Celebrates 50 Years with New National PSA Campaign; Offers Glimpse of St. Jude Moments

MEMPHIS, Tenn., June 5, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is launching a new series of public service announcements (PSAs) to help raise awareness and deepen the understanding of the hospital's lifesaving mission through real St. Jude heroes – its patients and families. St. Jude has not produced national PSAs since 2003 and timed this new multichannel campaign to coincide with the hospital's 50th anniversary.  

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The PSA's share St. Jude moments through patients and families like 10-year-old Angiel. Angiel and her mom Damaris were planning a trip to Africa for a family reunion when she was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer that produced tumors in both of Angiel's legs. Today, thanks to St. Jude doctors, Angiel can still look forward to visiting family in a foreign land one day. Angiel's story is just one of several patients featured in the PSAs.

To view or download the PSAs visit www.stjude.org/psa.

"For 50 years St. Jude has been dedicated to finding cures and saving the lives of children like Angiel," said Richard Shadyac Jr., CEO of ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. "However, childhood cancer still kills more children in the U.S. over the age of 1 than any other disease. Through our new PSAs, we want to share our lifesaving mission and show why our work is so critical. Who better to tell that story than the very patients and families whose lives are impacted the most by the work of St. Jude?"

The PSA strategy is based on market research to define the purpose and messages for the campaign. The suite of PSAs, available in English and Spanish, is designed for use on television and radio, billboard and airport dioramas, in print and in interactive media. All of the PSAs were shot in the hospital with patients currently in treatment and tell the story of what these children - many of them thousands of miles away from home - long for most: reading a night-time story in their own beds, seeing their pets, hugging a sibling, the everyday moments that mean so much to families whether their child is sick or healthy.

Commitment to Finding Cures

Fifty years ago, St. Jude opened its doors and was the first children's hospital to bring research and patient care together under one roof. It was the place doctors from around the world could send their sickest patients for lifesaving treatments, and parents never had to worry about how they would pay for it. Today, St. Jude remains true to those same principles and celebrates five decades of research breakthroughs and unparalleled patient care.

To learn more about St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, visit www.stjude.org.

About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Since opening 50 years ago, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital has changed the way the world treats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. No family ever pays St. Jude for the care their child receives and, for every child treated here, thousands more have been saved worldwide through St. Jude discoveries. The hospital has played a pivotal role in pushing U.S. pediatric cancer survival rates from 20 to 80 percent overall, and is the first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. It is also a leader in the research and treatment of blood disorders and infectious diseases in children. St. Jude was founded by the late entertainer Danny Thomas, who believed that no child should die in the dawn of life. Join that mission by visiting stjude.org or following us on facebook.com/stjude and twitter.com/stjude.

SOURCE ALSAC/St. Jude Children's Research Hospital