Bobby Bones' Own Childhood Health Issues Inspired Him To Raise Millions For St. Jude
Comedian, TV host, and country music DJ Bobby Bones has raised more than $14 million for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital with his annual Million Dollar Show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.
This week, Bones revealed why he was so moved to donate to that specific cause.
"When I was a kid, I didn’t fight cancer, but I had a lot of internal issues and I was in the hospital a long time," Bones told Country Now. "If it wasn’t for people, you know, stepping up and helping pay our bills, I don’t know that I would’ve got the care that I got then. So when I heard that there was a hospital that took care of kids, I started to get involved. But then, once I started to get involved, I started to go and actually see, you know, how positive of an atmosphere it is when it’s not a very positive thing happening."
PopCulture.com details what makes St. Jude so special:
St. Jude offers completely free health care for children battling cancer and other diseases of the blood, as well as gives the family a free place to stay while their child is hospitalized, and pays for meals for the family as well.
"To me, being able to work with the kids of St. Jude, it’s a bit personal because at St. Jude you don’t have to pay a bill," Bones continued. "When you go in, they take care of the travel to and from, the food, all the treatment obviously."
Bones was recently on an episode of "Running Wild With Bear Grylls" during which he opened up a bit about his rough childhood. He was raised in Arkansas by a single mom who fought drug addiction and then died in her 40s.
"We never had a real, live human conversation, my mom and I didn't," Bones said on the show "And I loved her, and I still love her.
"I do stand-up so I can feel love," Bones continued. "For me, I never had that ... My mom was an addict, a lot of drugs and a lot of alcohol. She died in her 40s. So she was never really present even though she was there."
