Southeast Missouri football players, coaches and support staff toured St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, the amazing facility that leads the way the world understands, treats an defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.
Danny Thomas officially opened St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in 1962 and it has spent more than half a century finding cures and saving children.
Head Coach Tom Matukewicz was inspired to take his team there after the Redhawks connected with the BstronG Forever Foundation. BstronG was founded in the memory of 10-year old Cape Girardeau native Brody Gard who died after battling Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma – a malignant stage IV brain stem tumor – for 16 months. Gard was a patient at St. Jude.
The Redhawks toured St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital prior to their season-opener at Memphis. St. Jude operates at a cost of $2.2 million daily. At the end of its visit, Southeast contributed $531 to the facility that uses donations to cover expenses for patient care.
To honor the Gard Family, Southeast proudly wore “BstronG” stickers on its helmets in their game against Memphis. Although they lost to the Tigers, the Redhawks gained a new perspective from their first road trip of the 2016 season.
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