Warner’s Warriors come together to support St. Jude
[gtxvideo vid=”c7lUzRwJ” playlist=”” pid=”OTSe9U1y” thumb=”http://player.gtxcel.com/thumbs/c7lUzRwJ.jpg” vtitle=”Warners Warrior Day PKG”]
LEXINGTON, Tenn. — A race for some of West Tennessee’s toughest warriors brings a community together, Saturday. It’s all in support of a two-year-old diagnosed with Leukemia. More than 200 of Warner’s Warriors converged on Beech Lake all to benefit the brave little boy and the hospital that’s given him so much after he was diagnosed with Leukemia late last year. “He was just getting to where he was learning to talk and he was developing this personality,” Warner’s mom Brittany Wood said. “But when he started his chemo treatment all of that was kind of hit hard and he didn’t talk or walk.” But despite those struggles, in less than a year, Warner is in remission and his family said it’s all thanks to Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital. “Everyone is there to heal your child,” Warner’s dad Matt Woods said. “Everyone is there to 100% focus on your child to give them whatever they need.” That’s why the Wood’s said they started Warner’s Warriors. “We were so overwhelmed with all the grace and help that everyone provided,” Brittany said “Now it’s our turn to start giving that back to other families.” They’ve already raised tens of thousands of dollars to support childhood cancer research through St. Jude. “They never send you a bill, everything is run off of donations,” cancer survivor Kevin Adams said. “It takes roughly $2 million a day to run St. Jude.” For Adams, he knows the wonders of St Jude all too well, having been treated for Leukemia when he was 17. Now he travels the Mid-South looking to give back. “I just try and raise money and give back to St. Jude,” Adams said. “I know I’ll never be able to give back what they’ve done for me so I just want to give as much as I can to them and go from there.” For Warner, Kevin and the thousands of others treated at St. Jude every year, they become family. “He will be a St. Jude patient for life,” Brittany said. “Even when he’s 40, even though it’s a children’s hospital, because he was there as a child he will go back for check-ups and treatments.” Although there’s still challenges ahead, Warner and his warriors will tackle them all together. “When he returns to life as normal, he’ll get to go to school and he’ll do all those things,” Matt said. “Maybe he’ll even play sports.” Saturday’s event featured a 5-K, a tricycle race and a silent auction. More than 15-thousand-dollars was raised for Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
