Amelia honors her son by joining St. Jude's fight to save all children

LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — St. Jude's Dream Home Giveaway is your chance to win a home and fund life-saving research. Thanks to treatments discovered at St. Jude, four out of five children in the United States survive childhood cancer.

One mother has dedicated her life to helping one in five children, including her son Juan, who will not make it. “Juan died, but he was with us for almost six years. St. Jude gave us that hope, those memories, that time with him that I don't think I would have had without St. Jude or with their help,” she told News 3.

Juan's mother, Amelia, now helps St. Jude help others by being employed by the fundraising organization ALSAC. “It's for Juan. It's for that one in five. You hear the success stories of St. Jude's patients and I love seeing the patients doing well and living their lives because at the end of the day, that's every mother's full right, you want to see your child grow up, but it's for that one in five,” Amelia said.

St. Jude says it won't stop until no more children die of cancer. Amelia is doing her part by telling Juan's story to remind everyone of the work that still needs to be done. “Even people who never met him in person will hear his story or learn what he was like, and his legacy will touch them,” she explained. That legacy is forever etched into the floor of this year's St. Jude Dream Home in Las Vegas. There you'll find symbols of love, messages of hope and vows to find a cure. People involved in the project are writing those well wishes on the floor before the new flooring is installed. “Obviously, losing Juan was the worst thing that ever happened to me, but keeping his legacy alive is what keeps me going,” Amelia said.

You can help keep St. Jude alive through our St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway. The hospital relies on donations to fund everything. Thanks to the generosity of others like you, patients never receive a bill. Get your $100 ticket today to keep the mission going. You could win a home valued at $467,000. Call 1-800-378-5386 today.

News 3 will draw the winner's name live on air on Wednesday, September 25th during the 6 p.m. news.