St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Ethan Pesch’s knees were screaming as he struggled to keep up with his father, Scott Pesch, on the road south of Seattle. They were cycling from Seattle to Sacramento, California, in nine days, averaging about 100 miles a day. It was an ambitious first stretch of a grueling, zig zagging, cross-country ride. “The most I had ever ridden was 65 miles,” Ethan said. “My body was not prepared for this.” Scott, an experienced cyclist, knew this challenge would come.

The boys stand in sandals at the edge of their street, shoulders nearly touching, looking up as the night sky ignites. A luminous plume unfurls. At its peak, a bright point of light climbs higher and higher — a rocket carrying a story they know by heart. On board is Hayley Arceneaux — a physician assistant at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® and a childhood cancer survivor. Now she is soaring into space. Behind the boys, their dad, Shane, lifts his phone to capture the moment.

When singer and television personality Jacqie Rivera is asked why she supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®, her answer is simple and deeply personal. “At St. Jude, they really are changing lives.” For Jacqie, that commitment is also part of a legacy. As the executor of the estate of her mother, the late regional Mexican music icon Jenni Rivera, she sees giving back as a responsibility she continues to honor with pride.

Español | English Juggling a soccer ball has long been California resident Hollis Belger’s way of bringing people together and raising awareness and funds for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital®. Now, with the world watching the biggest international soccer tournament of 2026, the Stanford college student is energized by the possibility of pushing her Juggling for Jude initiative toward a new milestone: $1 million raised for St. Jude in time for next year’s global women’s soccer tournament.

Growing up in a small town in Ontario, Canada, Paul Northcott’s early life involved playing ice hockey and shoveling snow. He thought he might always be there. But over the years, his studies at the University of Toronto led him to explore the world of cancer genetics. And as his training continued — taking him to Heidelberg, Germany, and then bringing him to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in Memphis in 2015 — he began to focus on pediatric brain tumors.

St. Jude offers an annual invited event held in spring for select PhD students from around the U.S.: the National Graduate Student Symposium (NGSS). It is an all-expenses-paid event hosted on the St. Jude campus in Memphis, Tenn. This competitive symposium allows PhD-level graduate students from U.S. institutions to present their work, meet our faculty, and learn about cutting-edge research and facilities at St. Jude.

Every four years, Ramon begins the countdown to that moment when the whole world seems to move to the same rhythm. This occasion isn’t just a tournament for him and his family. It’s a shared tradition that unites family and friends and turns each match into something meaningful. “For me, it’s one of the moments I look forward to the most,” said the lifelong fan, who sees something deeply human in the excitement the sport creates.

The first time D’Yana heard of sickle cell disease, she was pregnant with her first child, a daughter she would name Ari’Yanna. During routine blood tests, her obstetrician informed D’Yana she carried the trait for the genetic blood disorder. Sickle cell disease develops when a child inherits a copy of the sickle cell gene from both parents.

Courtney is an Ivy League–educated investment banker on Wall Street. She loves to travel, enjoys Broadway musicals and lives in New York City with her two best friends from college. At 25, she is living her best life — all while managing sickle cell disease, a genetic blood disorder she was diagnosed with before she was born. Sickle cell disease affects hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells that carries oxygen throughout the body.