Two weeks away from St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway, tickets available now

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (KBTX) -The St. Jude Dream Home Giveaway is just two weeks away. The winner of the home and all of the other prizes will be announced live on KBTX on June 6.

You can still get your ticket but time is quickly running out. Every $100 ticket puts you in the running to win the three-bedroom, two-bathroom home in College Station. All of the money raised goes to support St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

For Avalyn and her family, the resources at St. Jude made all the difference.

“She was about two and a half, playing on the playground one night, said her leg hurt,” Avalyn’s mom Hannah said. “We didn’t think too much of it. Kids have aches and pains all the time. Then she woke up in the night screaming in pain.”

Avalyn’s parents, Hannah and Lee, sprang into action visiting the emergency room, pediatricians, and children’s hospitals for weeks, but no one had any answers.

“We tried all these different things, and we ended up back in the ER,” Hannah said. “That’s when finally they said her blood shows some things indicative of cancer.”

They were referred to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Avalyn was diagnosed with leukemia.

“Nobody wants to hear that their daughter has cancer,” Lee said.

The heartbreaking diagnosis was just the start of their difficult journey.

“My daughter had to relearn how to walk,” Lee said. “She stopped walking for two months so at two and a half, she has to relearn how to walk and build those muscles back up because of the pain she was experiencing because of leukemia.”

But Lee says there was never a doubt the researchers and doctors at St. Jude had his daughter’s best interest in mind.

“You walk up and down the halls, and you see kids that should be downtrodden smiling and happy,” he said.

“They communicate from department to department and so there’s not a lot of relaying information as a parent,” Hannah said. “Sometimes that can be exhausting and we don’t have to do that. It’s all in one place. We saw her doctor, her physical therapist, her occupational therapist and would have a procedure all in one day and all in one place.”

It’s this level of care, research and the feeling of hope that helped Avalyn recover. She is now a healthy 9-year-old. Her parents say it’s all thanks to those who contribute to the cause.

“Large or small, it matters. You are contributing to keeping hope alive for these families,” Lee said.

“Does our money really go to what you say it’s going to? Yes, it does,” Hannah said. “Patient families never pay a dime for medical bills, food, housing. Six dollars pays for a patient’s meal, $50 pays for a little red wagon. My daughter had to relearn how to walk so she used those wagons every visit.”

Avalyn and her parents

You can get your $100 ticket right now.

If you would like to see the St. Jude Dream Home for yourself, there are open houses on Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. Just for stopping by, you are put in the running to win a golf cart valued at around $10,000.