Little Danny, only six months old, was bitten on the hand by a rat as he lay in his crib. His screams awakened everyone in ths house. His parents rushed him to the hospital and the doctors did all they could do with the limited medical techniques available at the time, but the poor baby was just about given up for dead. His mother fell to her knees and screamed aloud, "Please, God, spare him and I will vow to you that I will beg pennies from door to door for a whole year to give to the poor. Spare my baby. Please, God, spare my baby." His father, too, dropped to his knees, prayed, and vowed that he would never gamble again.
Miraculously, Danny lived, perhaps even with rabies from the rat. And for an entire year, his mother took the streetcar to the end of the line, and walked from door to door. Sometimes, doors were slammed in her face, but she persevered for a full year, pleading in her Middle eastern accent, "Blease give bennies to the boor. I bromise God." His father never again gambled.
The memory is the cheif reason Danny Thomas cites for keeping his vow to St.Jude and for his generous fundraising on behalf of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Memphis Tennesse.
He who walks with the wise grows wise....Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)
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