The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

PROCEEDS from an upcoming event will support ongoing research and the development of cures for deadly childhood diseases.

The third annual St Jude Children’s Research Hospital Trike-A-Thon in the Bahamas, will be held this Friday, at The Sports Authority parking lot, beginning 9am.

The event is a fundraiser for St Jude, one of the leading hospitals in research and treatment of infectious diseases in children.

Trike-A-Thon is a 25 year old tradition of the hospital. It is a fun, week-long event, that exposes children and parents to proper trike and riding-toy safety habits, while raising funds for the research and treatment of paediatric cancer and other childhood diseases. 

Children learn riding-toy safety lessons through a series of interactive stories from characters. On the last day, they bring their trikes or riding toys to a supervised course where they practise the safety lessons learnt.

This year students of Tambearly School, The Meridian School and Lyford Cay International School are participants.

Every year registration funds are donated to a local family or organisation. The registration fees this year will benefit Tyiece Bennett, a 12-year-old Bahamian child, suffering from spina bifida in need of ongoing treatment and care. Last year’s fees were donated to The Crisis Center.

The work St Jude carries out daily impacts the lives of children and families all over the world and the Caribbean.

Since the first Trike-A-Thon, seven Bahamian patients have been treated at the hospital.

There are also two physicians who refer patients and consult with the hospital.

“St Jude Children’s Research Hospital is a place of hope for children around the world including the Bahamas, suffering from cancer and other deadly childhood diseases,” said Stanja Seivright, volunteer counsellor.

“Since its opening in 1962, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital has increased the survival rate of the most common form of childhood cancer-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia from 4% to an overwhelming 94%  The hospital openly shares all its findings and treatment protocols with hospitals and healthcare institutions around the world as part of their global mission to put an end to deadly childhood diseases,” Ms Seivright told Tribune Health.

No child is denied care at St Jude, therefore the hospital relies heavily on fundraising initiatives such as Trike-A-Thon.

“This event contributes significantly to the $1.8 million in daily operating fees that it takes to care and find cures for the sickest children in the world. Trike-A-Thon is a way for our children and community to help the doctors and scientists at St Jude continue do their life saving work to benefit the children of the Bahamas and the rest of the world,” she said.

In 2010, St Jude was ranked the most trusted charity in the United States and named the top children’s cancer hospital in the 2010-2011 Best Children’s Hospitals rankings published by US News & World Report.

Trike-A-Thon Bahamas is sponsored by Sandals Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Sandals Resorts International. Other corporate supporters include MORE 94FM that broadcasts live from the event every year, Starbucks Cable Cottage and Bahamas Waste Limited.