who started st jude's children's hospital
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital St. Jude was founded by entertainer Danny Thomas in 1962, with help from Lemuel Diggs and close friend, Miami, Florida, automobile dealer Anthony Abraham, on the premise that "no child should die in the dawn of life".[3] This idea resulted from a promise that Thomas, a Maronite Catholic, had made to a saint years before the hospital was founded. Thomas was a comedian who was struggling to get a break in his career and living paycheck to paycheck. When his first child was about to be born, he attended Mass in Detroit and put his last $7.00 in the offering bin. He prayed to St. Jude Thaddeus for a means to provide for his family, and about a week later, he obtained a gig that paid 10 times what he had put in the offering bin. After that time, Thomas believed in the power of prayer. He promised St. Jude Thaddeus that if he made him successful, he would one day build him a shrine. Years later, Thomas became an extremely successful comedian and built St. Jude Childrenâ€™s Research Hospital as a shrine to St. Jude Thaddeus to honor his promise.[4]