S2E7 | Lighting up the room, even in hardship

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St. Jude Storied Lives Podcast

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

17 episodes

7 months ago

St. Jude Storied Lives brings you intimate conversations with the patients and families of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. It’s hosted by Joel Alsup. He was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, when he was 7 years old. He was treated at St. Jude in the 1980s. Joel now works at ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude, on the team that shares stories about patients and their families.

Joel knows how new friendships and second families form at St. Jude – lifelong relationships that become a source of compassion and strength. He also knows that a person’s cancer story is only a part of their entire life story. St. Jude Storied Lives gives you the chance to get to know someone who’s faced difficult moments and learned how to move forward. It’s about what happens after treatment ends and regular life begins again.

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Society & Culture

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All content for St. Jude Storied Lives Podcast is the property of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and is served directly from their servers with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.

Documentary

Society & Culture

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S2E7 | Lighting up the room, even in hardship

St. Jude Storied Lives Podcast

18 minutes

7 months ago

S2E7 | Lighting up the room, even in hardship

If anyone knows what it’s like to be a patient at St. Jude, Javon does. He practically grew up there. He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 2 years old. He went through years of treatment, relapsed twice and had a bone marrow transplant. He didn’t go to a regular school until he was in sixth grade. But through it all, his charismatic personality prevailed.

Javon’s mom understood what her son was going through. She had been a patient at St. Jude when she was a kid. She had leukemia and also relapsed. A difficult situation became almost too much to bear when Javon’s younger sister was also diagnosed with leukemia while he was in treatment.

Eventually, through genomic testing, Javon’s family learned they all have a genetic mutation called a PAX5 mutation, which is known to cause a predisposition to B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and be associated with relapses. Here is more information about PAX5 and other genetic predispositions.

You can read more about Javon’s mom and sister here. All three are now doing well. And Javon made up for lost time in school. He joined several honor societies and clubs in college, and he performed with the marching band — including an appearance on College GameDay. Javon still enjoys cooking meals he loved during treatment. You can watch him making fried catfish and some of his other favorites here.

St. Jude Storied Lives is a production of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. This podcast series explores the experiences of survivors, letting you get to know the person and not just the diagnosis. St. Jude understands that every patient’s journey through treatment is unique. Listeners who have questions about their situation, diagnosis or treatment options should talk to their physician. These personal stories are not intended to provide medical advice.

Credits
Host: Joel Alsup
Producer: Geoffrey Redick
Editor: Grace Korzekwa Evans
Music production: Kazimir Boyle
Recorded by: Jason Latshaw, Nathan Black, Bobby Mitchell, Orlando Palaez and Dan Yohey