It was a special Fourth of July for some former St. Jude patients and their families from Ukraine
It was a special Fourth of July for some former St. Jude patients and their families from Ukraine who never expected to find themselves celebrating at the White House and meeting the President of the United States, the First Lady and the Ambassador of Ukraine to the U.S., Oksana Markarova. The four families first came to the U.S. in March 2022 as part of the SAFER Ukraine initiative, in which St. Jude and other organizations helped more than 1,000 Ukrainian children safely continue their treatment for cancer and other catastrophic diseases. Shortly after their arrival last year, First Lady Jill Biden visited with the families who were being treated in the U.S. at St. Jude in Memphis.
During the Fourth of July festivities, the families were accompanied by three St. Jude employees — Erica Sirrine, Ph.D., LCSW, Social Work director; Asya Agulnik, MD, MPH, St. Jude Global Critical Care, and Euro Regional Program director; and Yulia Miller, Cultural Navigator. They visited monuments and toured the U.S. Capitol and White House before joining a festive barbecue on the South Lawn, where they ended the day watching fireworks.