Reply #7: St. Jude's was my father's favorite charity.

[Kurovski]

When I was eight I developed Rheumatic Fever. I woke up one morning with ankles purple, the size of softballs. Our family doctor tried to get me into La Rabida in Chicago, a charity hospital, but they had no room. Dad packed me into the car and camped out in reception until they took me in.

They had a private room on the second floor with a lovely view of Lake Michigan. Funny how it suddenly appeared in a hospital with no room. I eventually made it to the "Happy Room", a misnomer to be sure. there were about 50 of us in there.

Dad saved me from developing heart disease by insisting they take me in so quickly.

Later, when my dad was sick in his 60's, he had a poster with pictures of kids from St Jude taped to it, he wrote on it "my inspiration", and saw it every day till the last.

He thought if a five year old could suffer what they did, he certainly could manage.