Innocent children like Ellie should never know the pain of cancer.

Ellie is only 6 years old, but she's fighting an incredible battle against a deadly foe. Ellie is a patient at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where she is receiving treatment for a type of brain tumor called supratentorial primitive neuroectodermal tumor.

Ellie's parents never would have imagined there was anything wrong with their little girl. At bedtime, they often heard Ellie's little voice through the bedroom door talking to her dolls or her favorite cat, Phoebe. Ellie is still that same happy little girl at St. Jude even though she's undergoing radiation and chemotherapy treatments to kill the cancer that threatens her life. Her parents say it's because of the special care and attention she's received at St. Jude as well as the many friends she's made at the hospital.

At St. Jude, doctors and scientists are working night and day to unlock the mysteries of pediatric cancers like brain tumors, so precious children like Ellie can have hope for a life free from cancer. Since its opening in 1962, St. Jude has developed protocols that have helped push survival rates for childhood cancers from less than 20 percent to more than 70 percent overall.

But there is still much work to do, and many children like Ellie are still waiting for a cure.

Thankfully these children and their families can find hope at St. Jude, where no child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance.

Won't you help us defeat childhood cancer?