We are a research center and treatment facility all under one roof.

That is the difference between St. Jude's and all other children's hospitals. The other hospitals are not bad at all; they're good hospitals, but they're just working with what they know, and St. Jude's is working with what nobody else knows, because they're doing research.

Today, all patients accepted for treatment at St. Jude's are treated without regard for the family's ability to pay. Everything beyond what is covered by insurance is taken care of, and for those without insurance, all of the medical costs are absorbed by the hospital.

Vertex's cystic fibrosis research program has yielded two innovative approaches for the treatment of this disease.

There's no adequate treatment for him (at such a facility). That's just a jail disguised as a hospital. In a penitentiary, all you have to do is behave yourself . . .and you have to be released.

Sadly, when it comes to diagnosis, treatment and research for Gulf War veterans, we find the federal government too often has a tin ear, a cold heart and a closed mind.