Ne-Yo picked up the shards of shattered hearts at the St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital fundraising gala after two women shared horrific stories of life-threatening diseases befalling their children, and how St. Jude’s extended their lives with no-cost care.
One woman, in particular, brought the crowd to a standstill when she recounted how both of her adorable daughters [Jayla and Felicia] were diagnosed with brain cancer — on the same day — and how they are perhaps only alive because St. Jude’s provided no-cost, top-notch medical care and chemotherapy for her children. Worse, one of the daughters had to go through a second round of chemo treatment when the tumors reappeared. And if that wasn’t enough, the mother was then diagnosed with cancer herself.
There was not a dry eye in the room. But her story crystallized the need for donations to continue to pour into St. Jude’s, thus the inaugural Soul Celebration at the J.W. Marriott Hotel in Atlanta’s Buckhead district that ws co-chaired by Loraine Smith, mother of Ne-Yo; Aliyah “Momma Pain” Najm, mother of T-Pain; and Jacinda Carter, mother of Lil Wayne.
The celebrity-packed affair also included actresses Elise Neal, Terri J. Vaughn and Demetria McKinney, director-producer Roger Bobb, former pro athletes Jamal Anderson and Dikembe Mtumbo and CNN anchor Fredericka Whitfield, who co-hosted with Neal.
It costs $1.7 million a day to keep the doors of St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital open. Not per year — per day.
Ne-Yo’s electrifying performance buoyed heavy hearts that sunk after the woman’s unbelievable story and poignant plea for prospective doners to “reach as deep into your pockets as you can” to keep people like her daughters alive.
The gala included a silent and public auction designed to maximize the giving opportunities in order to save the lives of thousands of children like Jayla and Felicia.
–terry shropshire
