NASHVILLE, Tenn. -– The Grand Ole Opry® celebrated Country Cares for St. Jude Kids® during a special show this evening. Among the performers were Randy Owen of Country Music Hall of Fame group Alabama, four-time Entertainer of the Year Luke Bryan, and Clare Bowen and Charles Esten of the hit series NASHVILLE.
Throughout the show, photos and videos of special moments from Country Cares for St. Jude Kids® were shared during artist performances. St. Jude patient Kael, who is five years old, took the stage as a special guest announcer for the night. After Kael presented Owen with a memento thanking him for 28 years of work with Country Cares for St. Jude Kids,® the Country Music Hall of Famer returned the favor and surprised him and his brother with their own Opry keepsakes.
The month of September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and supporters are encouraged to help St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital® in its efforts to end childhood cancer. St. Jude is leading the way the world understands, treats and defeats childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Treatments invented at St. Jude have helped push the overall childhood cancer survival rate from 20 percent when the hospital opened in 1962 to more than 80 percent today.