St. Jude family helps put marathon fundraising over $100 million
Dan and Lindsey Hammer’s 12-yearold son Caleb started complaining of arm soreness earlier this year after being hit in the shoulder by a ball during soccer practice. A few days later, a fall on the playground brought the Hammers to Campbell Clinic for X-rays, then an MRI and then devastating news: Caleb had cancer.
“Hearing your child has cancer is the worst day of any parent’s life,” Lindsey said.
Their doctor referred the Memphis residents to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and Caleb began chemotherapy for his osteosarcoma on April 23. He will undergo his two final rounds of chemotherapy this weekend and next, and the family is optimistic that scans later this month will show that the treatment and surgery have rid their son’s body of cancer.
“St. Jude is an absolute godsend,” Dan said. “Those people are special people that are able to be there and do that job to take care of your child.”
On Thursday, the Hammers learned they would be helping more families like theirs for years to come. Their 54-member fundraising team for the St. Jude Memphis Marathon Weekend brought in the donation that put St. Jude over $100 million raised all time by the marathon.
Team Hammer Strong has raised almost $30,000 this year, and the Hammers said they plan to continue to run and fundraise for the children’s hospital every year. “If you go through this, it’s a part of your soul,” Dan said, of the relationship formed with St. Jude during his son’s treatment.
Tears of joy
The 20th iteration of the St. Jude Memphis Marathon will be Saturday morning. There will be more than 20,000 walkers and runners competing, more than 17,000 of whom will be doing the race in person. The rest will be competing virtually.
Of those 20,000, about 1,100 are relatives of a St. Jude patient. According to ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization of the hospital, people from all 50 states and more than 70 countries have signed up for the race, which was on pace to raise more than $12 million for the hospital this year, well exceeding the goal of $9 million.
ALSAC President and CEO Rick Shadyac surprised the Hammers with the news about their donation Thursday as the organization prepared to open the health and fitness expo that precedes the annual race.
“It was your fundraising on behalf of your son Caleb,” he said. “It’s now part of history at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. One of your donations carried us past our $100 million milestone.”
Both the Hammers teared up when Shadyac told them the news. Dan said there have been many tears of sadness shed in the past year, but those were tears of joy. He added there are so many families they have gotten to know at St. Jude who have children who have been sick for years, and they were glad to be able to help them.
“Our journey was, is, shorter than most,” Lindsey said. “Cancer is not lucky but our journey is lucky.”
Shadyac also said he was glad to have runners back in Memphis, to have an inperson race and expo at the Renasant Convention Center and be able to economically support the community. He asked people to get involved in the race, even if that’s just standing along the route and cheering, and to support local businesses that have been struggling during the pandemic.