Paula calls St. Jude the most wonderful place you never want to have to go to. Her daughter Carson was diagnosed with cancer when she was seven. The cancer metastasized to her lungs, and 16 months after she was diagnosed, Carson passed away.

“We knew that we were in for a huge journey with Carson from day one,” Paula says. Despite the tough days of treatment, there were smiles and happy times with Carson and her siblings. And Carson’s care team became a second family, offering her comfort and support.

After Carson’s death, Paula decided to join ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude. She works with patient families to tell the stories of their treatment. And she knows there’s more work to be done because not every child survives cancer.

“I think that it's hard to find the blessings in a journey of losing a child,” she says. “It’s the patient families that we get to work with, that my team works with, that is the blessing to me every day.”

Donate to St. Jude: www.stjude.org/donate

Credits Host: Joel Alsup
Recorded by: Andres Garcia and Nathan Black
Music production: Kazimir Boyle
Producer: Geoffrey Redick
Editor: Grace Korzekwa Evans
Executive Producer: Louis Graham

This podcast is a production of ALSAC, the fundraising and awareness organization for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.