The Patients of a Saint

Fundraiser celebrates 50 years of research and treatment at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital

WWHEn COLLEEn KOnKUS of Hilliard took a trip to Memphis, Tenn. in September 2011 for a research study at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, she didn’t know it would mean the removal of her thyroid and a mass in her throat.

The hospital saved Konkus’ life – for the second time.

At 10 years old in 1983, Konkus discovered a mass in her neck. Her family took her to many doctors and specialists. “They all thought it was an inflamed lymph node,” Konkus says.

It wasn’t. A biopsy showed that Konkus had non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.

She spent the summer of 1983 at St. Jude receiving chemotherapy and radiation – and also playing with the other kids undergoing treatment and swimming in the pool at the hotel where she stayed with her family.

“My memories are wonderful,” Konkus says, without any hint of irony. “I knew I had cancer, but I didn’t know the degree of what my family was going through. St. Jude was wonderful. Everything there is designed around kids. Monday through Friday, I had my checkups and my medication during the week. Some weekends in the summer, I was able to go home” to

Arkansas, where her family lived at the time.

Since then, most of her family has relocated to central Ohio, but their gratitude to St. Jude hasn’t changed. Konkus, her parents and her children have always supported the hospital with fundraisers and via word of mouth.

A coincidental meeting on the sidelines of her daughter’s soccer game introduced Konkus to the Karam family. “I had my St. Jude umbrella, and (Lisa Karam) asked me ‘How are you connected to St. Jude?’”

Lisa and her husband, J. David Karam, co-chair the local Discover the Dream event, an annual fundraiser for the hospital. Headlined by Jack Hanna, Discover the Dream has raised more than $1.7 million for St. Jude since its inception seven years ago. In 2011 alone, the event raised $406,000.

“Discover the Dream has grown into the largest gala in the region to support St. Jude,” David says. “We are delighted to have Jack Hanna, as well as other Columbus families, talk about the world-class treatment their children have received at St. Jude.”

In 2012, St. Jude is celebrating 50 years of helping families and their chil- dren. No family ever pays St. Jude for care, so it relies on donations, which fund a large portion of its daily operating cost, currently at $1.7 million. In the last five years, 81 percent of donations have gone straight to research and treatment.

Its role as a research hospital was vital to Konkus. The hospital saved all the information from her original treatment and were able to use that information to treat her last fall.

“Even though I was a patient in 1983, they never closed out my file,” Konkus says. “They pulled my blood samples. They gave me a binder that had all my information in it and that’s been part of my treatment.”

The hospital has followed its patients over the last 50 years and has made some discoveries from tracking them as they age.

“There are things they’ve found out since my treatment. I’ve had to have some tests – one of those was (the problem with) my thyroid,” Konkus says. “Little things, like I’m more prone to get cataracts in my eyes.”

As a parent herself now, Konkus says she can’t express how much it means to know that St. Jude is there for her children, should they need it.

“We’re very blessed to have a place like St. Jude,” she says. “Being a patient and having that scare in September really makes you think through things about how precious life is.”

Konkus and her local family members are volunteering to help with this year’s Discover the Dream event, scheduled for 6 p.m. May 17 at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, 4850 W. Powell Rd. The banquet will feature food, cocktails and a silent auction. Tickets are $150 each or $2,000 for a table of 10.

For more information, visit www.stjude.org/discoverthedream.