When she was just seven years old, doctors told Gabriella Salinas that she only had a few weeks to live. What had first been erroneously diagnosed as a pinched nerve was actually a tumor. The Bolivia native was diagnosed with Ewings Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York. To receive treatment, her family was told they would need to come up with $250,000.

When her father called his sister to tell her the news, she broke down and started crying. She was working a job as a waitress then, and one of her customers asked why she was so distraught. That customer happened to be a reporter who wrote about Gabriella’s situation beginning a series of events that brought her and her family to Memphis where she was able to undergo successful treatment for free. In 1996, Gabriella became a patient at St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

Though her family never had to worry about paying a dime, Gabriella continues to feel indebted to the hospital. “I can’t imagine my life without St. Jude,” she said in a recent interview. Gabriella recently graduated from Christian Brothers University with a bachelor’s degree in Biochemistry and she works in the chemical biology and therapeutics department at St. Jude.

As testament to the gratitude she feels toward the institution that saved her life, she and a team of other former St. Jude patients, “Danny’s Dream Team,” are planning to participate in St. Jude’s annual marathon in December. The group participated last year and raised more than $6,000. This year, the group will have more members and they hope to raise even more money for the hospital that worked tirelessly to save their lives.

---

In the September 2011 issue of Memphis Crossroads Magazine, Rosalind Guy sat down with Gabriella (Gabby) Salinas, captain of Danny’s Dream Team (St. Jude Marathon) to discuss her history with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the impact it has had on her life. In our special web-only content, Rosalind asks Gabby about her work with the St. Jude Marathon.

How did your family first find out about St. Jude?
My dad called up his sister to tell her the bad news of what happened at the doctor [Gabby was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer], and she started to cry. And she was at her work, and she was a waitress, and the person she was waiting on at the time asked what was going on. She told him the story and that person was actually a reporter with the New York Daily News. He wrote a story about me and what was going on the next day. Marlo Thomas, who was in New York, was reading the newspaper and she saw the article and contacted our family and told us about St. Jude.
 
How did you go from being a patient at St. Jude to, not only working there, but organizing a group of runners for the annual fundraiser?
When I was in college I would volunteer. And I would always see the people running and wearing their heroes’ shirt…and so that became one of my goals in life: to participate in one of the events of the marathon.
 
How did you choose the members for your team?
I knew training was going to be really hard and I needed people on my team who were going to keep me motivated. I also wanted people who would inspire me, and when I got to thinking “Well, who does that for me,” I couldn’t think of anybody else better than St. Jude patients. So, I contacted a lot of my friends, and they contacted their friends, and we came up with Danny’s Dream Team.

Can you explain the name?
The Danny is in honor of Danny Thomas, founder of the hospital. His dream for the hospital was that no child should die in the dawn of life, and a lot of my teammates and I, we have had cancer and reached adulthood. And, we’re now healthy enough to participate in these races.
 
And this is your second year participating in the race?
Yes. Last year there were six members. I think this year we’ll have close to ten. We haven’t gotten everybody signed up yet. We’re still in the process. We also have a group page on Facebook for Danny’s Dream Team.
 
Related Links:
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital
St. Jude Heroes

---

Memphis Crossroads, the Chamber's quarterly economic development magazine, is available free at select locations throughout Memphis (including Schnuck's markets), via mail for Chamber members and at the Chamber's offices on the 2nd floor of the Falls Building, 22 N. Front Street.