Walk for a Cure at Annual St. Jude Walk

Tampa Families Invited to Walk for a Cure at Annual St. Jude Walk This September

Registration is now open for the St. Jude Walk Tampa, an annual fundraising event that unites the community in support of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. The walk, presented locally by Suncoast Credit Union, will take place at 7:30 a.m. on September 26 at Benchmark International Arena.

The event gives supporters the chance to walk, in person or virtually, to raise both funds and awareness for St. Jude's lifesaving mission. Thanks to generous donors, families treated at St. Jude never receive a bill for treatment, travel, housing or food, allowing them to focus entirely on helping their child live. This year's national St. Jude Walk series is presented by Window World, KIA and Bosch, alongside local presenting sponsor Suncoast Credit Union.

For those attending in person, the morning will include family-friendly entertainment such as mini putt-putt, face painting and a balloon twister, along with a chance to hear directly from a St. Jude patient family about the impact of the community's support.

Among those expected to share their story is Christina Doherty, a longtime Tampa resident, St. Jude patient mom and member of the St. Jude Walk Tampa committee, whose son Caleb was treated at St. Jude.

"As a mom, I will forever be grateful to St. Jude for saving my son Caleb's life," Doherty said. "They gave us hope when we needed it most, and the chance to watch Caleb grow and thrive. I'm thankful every day for the doctors, nurses, researchers, and everyone who makes this lifesaving mission possible."

For Doherty and other Tampa Bay families, the walk is more than a fundraiser; it's a homegrown show of support for a mission that has touched their own community. Tampa's connection to St. Jude runs deep, from local families whose children have been treated at the hospital to the area businesses and thousands of Tampa Bay residents who lace up every September to raise funds and awareness. That local energy, channeled through longtime committee members and volunteers like Doherty, is what keeps the Tampa walk growing year after year.

Stories like Caleb’s are central to why the St. Jude Walk resonates so strongly with communities across the country. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center devoted solely to children. When the hospital opened in 1962, childhood cancer was considered largely incurable — since then, St. Jude has helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20% to more than 80%, and it continues working toward a day when no child dies from the disease.

St. Jude also shares the research and treatment breakthroughs it develops with doctors and hospitals around the world — meaning every dollar raised by Tampa Bay walkers helps fuel discoveries that reach far beyond Tampa, even as it directly supports families right here at home.

That sense of local ownership is something St. Jude Walk Event Chair Khadijah Khan hopes more of Tampa Bay will discover this September.

"What makes the St. Jude Walk so meaningful is realizing that the mission isn't something happening far away. It's right here in Tampa Bay. There are local families whose lives have been forever changed by St. Jude, and our community has the opportunity to stand beside them," Khan said. "The Walk is a reminder of what can happen when Tampa Bay shows up for one another: we can give families hope, make sure they never feel alone, and help create a future where no parent has to hear that their child has cancer. As we continue to grow the Walk, we're not just focused on bringing more people to an event; we're focused on bringing more people into the mission and supporting those in our community!"

Registration for the St. Jude Walk Tampa is open now at stjude.org/walktampa. 

About St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Because of generous donors, families never receive a bill from St. Jude for treatment, travel, housing or food, so they can focus on helping their child live. To learn more or to support the mission, visit stjude.org