Money raised through St. Jude Dream Home raffle helps kids like Louisville 10-year-old who beat rare cancer

SHELBYVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- On Oct. 5, live on WDRB Mornings, someone will win the $500,000 St. Jude Dream Home.

But there are bigger winners every day thanks to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and the raffle tickets sold for a chance to win the St. Jude Dream Home.

On Thursday, 10-year-old Caden, of Louisville, cut the ribbon to open the St. Jude Dream Home for free tours on the weekends.

Caden earned the honor by beating a very rare cancer in 2020 called pineoblastoma.

"It was a tumor in my head, it was like a brain tumor," Caden said.

Once he got to St Jude Children's Research Hospital, his parents got the prognosis.

"Initially they said it was about a fifty percent rate for survival," Jason, his dad, said.

"It was shattering, just heart shattering, terrible," Cassie, his mom, said.

But after multiple surgeries, chemo and radiation, Caden was declared cancer-free six months later.

"I was just so happy," Caden said.

In the midst of all the fancy decorations in the St. Jude Dream home in Shelbyville, Caden got a surprise — a room decorated to honor him with a Lego theme. And the hero got to take some home with him.

When you buy tickets for the Dream Home Raffle, you make sure families like Caden's get the best treatment in the world at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

"We didn't have to worry about any bills, so there we got to stay and just really focus on him and make sure he was okay and had everything he needed," Jason said.

"It's a place of hope. It's a place you know miracles happen. It's a place that you know is built for the children," Cassie said.

And that's why St. Jude builds these homes to give the raffle winner a dream place to live and to give the reality for many kids that they can live a cancer-free life.