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DENVER (KDVR) —We have sold out our annual St. Jude Dream Home campaign to raise $2 million for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. FOX31 traveled to Memphis to learn about the newest additions to campus that donations are funding.

A birds-eye view from a drone captures the vastness of St. Jude’s campus in Memphis. However, walking from building to building on a tour with Bess Atkinson showed a whole different perspective.

“I got to come here to St. Jude and they cured me, and now I’m living my best life,” Atkinson said.

St. Jude campus grows over 2 decades

In 1994, Atkinson first stepped on campus as a St. Jude patient.

“I was diagnosed with a rare kind of cancer, tumors inside blood vessels, inside the bone, and it’s in one in 10 cases all over the world,” Atkinson said.

Atkinson had 30 tumors inside of her body. She spent a lot of time on campus for treatment from 1994-1998. Now she’s back as a legal analyst for St. Jude’s legal estates department.

“When I was here in ’94, we had two buildings,” she said. “We now have, I want to say, over 10 buildings on this campus, and we keep growing.”

During the tour, Atkinson pointed out two buildings being constructed called Domino’s Village — new suites for families to stay on campus during their child’s treatment. 

“We were put in hotels all over the city back in the ’90s,” Atkinson said. “So to know that these families can actually congregate together, to hang out with other patient families, that’s amazing. I wish we had that when I was here.”

Atkinson said she now goes through testing on campus to see the impacts of her treatments. She said that results and long-term impact can help researchers find the best way to treat patients currently.

More St. Jude stories from FOX31:

2022 St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway

Thursday is the St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway. Throughout the morning on both Fox31 and Channel 2, there will be prizes drawn starting at 6:15 a.m. leading up to the big Dream Home drawing at 8:45 a.m. on both channels.

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