McBride helps kids fight cancer
Fire forward helps raise funds, awareness for MLS W.O.R.K.S.
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- MLS W.O.R.K.S., McBride & St. Jude's
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- Goals for St. Jude
McBride is the MLS W.O.R.K.S. ambassador for Goals for St. Jude, an awareness and fundraising program that partners MLS W.O.R.K.S., Major League Soccer's community outreach initiative, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Using soccer as a platform, Goals for St. Jude was created to give the MLS community an opportunity to join the fight against childhood cancer and other catastrophic diseases. MLS W.O.R.K.S will make a donation to St. Jude for every goal scored during the MLS regular season. As an internationally recognized striker, Brian McBride's dedication and leadership in the Goals for St. Jude initiative has been essential in its inaugural year.
"I think anytime you can be involved in something as important as helping children -- whether they're underprivileged, privileged, or really any child in need -- it is important to help," said McBride.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, located in Memphis, Tenn., is one of the world's premier pediatric cancer research centers. Its mission is to find cures for children with cancer and other deadly diseases through research and treatment.
Since the launch of Goals for St. Jude, McBride has scored seven goals, despite suffering a shoulder injury that sidelined him for two months during the summer. McBride is well aware that scoring goals isn't the only way to make a difference in these children's lives. On June 16, he traveled to Memphis to meet some of the patients and learn more about the research that the hospital has been conducting.
"It was great! They wanted to lead me around and show me the facilities," said McBride. "The first thing we did there was take a few pictures and then we went inside and talked to some of the kids and kicked a ball around a little bit," said McBride.
In 1962, the survival rate for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer, was 4 percent. Today, the survival rate for the once deadly disease is 94 percent. Meeting the families and interacting with the children made the entire experience more personal for McBride, who has a family of his own.
"I think that anytime you have children of your own you can see the amount of hard work that these kids are putting in," said McBride. "You see the hard work that each family member has to go through to stay positive and fight for a cure. That, of course, is really going to hit home if you have kids and it affects you more as a parent."
What makes the St. Jude's facility so unique is that they conduct research and patient care under one roof, which speeds up scientific development. During McBride's visit to St. Jude's 2.5 million square-foot campus, he had the opportunity to visit a number of different labs where some of the most advanced cancer research has been developed.
"The great part about St. Jude's is that any discovery that they make there isn't held for ransom," said McBride. "They give it freely to others so that the people who need it can actually use it. I think it is very important that they are so focused on children."
Despite the daily operating cost for St. Jude Children's Hospital -- nearly $1.4 million -- it is still the only pediatric cancer research center where families do not have to pay for treatments that are not covered by their insurance.
"St. Jude's provides something that is very special in that anyone can go there that is in need of help with cancer," McBride commented on the research hospital's ability to offer such assistance to those who are less fortunate.
McBride hopes to educate the masses and share the story about a hospital that always gives and never takes.
"First and foremost, I hope I can bring awareness. Before I went, I didn't have a full grasp of what exactly St. Jude did, or the extent of what they did," said McBride. "But the lengths that St. Jude's goes to in order to help children, and to help family members from day one of diagnosis until 10, or even 20 years later, is incredible. It is in-depth and caring and I hope people see that."
For more information, visit www.goalsforstjude.org.
