Childhood cancer survivors reunite at same hospital after years and get married

Memphis, Nov 23: It will take some real effort to beat this story while looking for the best Thanksgiving tale this year. Lindsey Wilkerson and Joel Alsup are both cancer survivors as children at a hospital here and then decades later, they reunited as employees of the same hospital and eventually accepted each other as the life partner.

According to TODAY, the couple recently tied the knot at the very St Jude Children's Research Hospital which had once saved their lives and where they are employees now. TODAY carried the story as part of its "Thanks and Giving" series.

Alsup was a sports-loving boy from Tennessee who had once started having a problem using his right hand. There was a tumour and after consulting many doctors, his family took him to St Jude for treatment.

In rural Missouri located far away, Wilkerson was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia but St Jude came to the rescue of that family as well, even telling the family that they never charge the family for treatment, housing and fooding.

Both the kids received intense treatment at the facility. Alsup's right arm was amputated to save his life while Wilkerson had nearly three years of chemotherapy. In between, they developed a friendship with each other.

However, they left the hospital after the treatment and took their respective paths and didn't have an iota of idea of what destiny had in store for them.

Wilkerson moved to Memphis after taking a job at St Jude's fundraising and awareness organisation to pay back the favour she received from the life-saving institution. Alsup also landed up at the hospital, at its video production unit. The two saw their old friendship thriving again and soon it became something deeper and special.

They got married, giving the perfect finishing touch to their fairy tale. They are now part of St Jude Life Program that tracks childhood cancer survivors. They also are raising Wilkerson's two kids from a previous marriage.