Hazel’s Family Found Hope at St. Jude

Recognizing Childhood Cancer Awareness Month

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness and supporting affected families like Hazel’s. It’s also an opportunity to reflect on how far we’ve come in understanding, treating and defeating childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases.

In 2022, when Hazel was 2, her parents noticed she was having balance issues. A visit to a local hospital in Kentucky revealed a brain tumor.

Thirty-six hours later, Hazel had brain surgery. When the couple left Hazel in the pre-op room, they were overwhelmed with emotions.

“We didn’t know what would happen or who would be coming out. A few long hours later, we found out that it was still Hazel who came out as feisty as ever,” her dad, David, recalled.

Doctors were able to remove the tumor, but Hazel was going to need further treatment for the malignant tumor called medulloblastoma. Hazel was referred to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. 

At St. Jude, doctors looked at the genetic markers of Hazel’s tumor to determine the course of treatment. Hazel received chemotherapy and then proton therapy.

Hazel returned home after treatment in September of 2023 and returns to St. Jude every three months for checkups.

On average, more than 290 children and adolescents in the U.S. are diagnosed with cancer every week. Treatments developed at St. Jude have helped improve the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80% in the U.S. since the hospital opened in 1962. St. Jude leads more clinical trials for childhood cancer than any other children’s hospital in the U.S.

St. Jude was founded in 1962 by actor and philanthropist Danny Thomas, the son of immigrant Lebanese parents, to treat children with cancer and other life-threatening diseases regardless of their race, ethnicity, beliefs or ability to pay. Families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food — so they can focus on helping their child live.

Hazel loves ballet, rainbows, fairies and mermaids. But her biggest love these days is her baby sister, Eliza, whom she helps style by picking out adorable outfits, with hopes of playing dress-up together in the future.

“She wants to hold her sister every day,” her mom, Hannah said.  For Hannah, watching her two daughters together is a dream come true.

“St. Jude is the place that gave Hazel a chance at life,” Hannah said. “Everybody at St. Jude was kind. People knew us and we knew them, and it was amazing that our needs were met on such a broad level. It wasn’t just medical care but making sure that we had what we needed to meet her needs.”