2024 Jubilee of Trees to benefit Advance Cancer Care at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital

The last thing a marathon runner and mother of six wants to hear at a doctor’s appointment is that she has breast cancer. But Amanda Roberts knew she was in good hands with the experts at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital, which is located near her home.

“I can’t say enough good things about our cancer center here in St. George,” said Roberts, who underwent whole genome sequencing at diagnosis and recently completed her individualized breast cancer treatments.

“Having this treatment here has been incredible and made my journey so much easier. I can’t imagine having to travel, or that I’d receive better care than the care I received at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital,” she added.

In November, the community can help more patients like Amanda access expanded, advanced, and personalized cancer treatments at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital by participating in the 41st annual Jubilee of Trees.

Jubilee of Trees, hosted by the Intermountain Foundation, is open to the public Nov. 21-23, with a Gala Dinner and Auction on Friday, Nov. 22, at the Dixie Convention Center in St. George. Tickets can be purchased at visit intermountainhealthcare.org/foundation/jubilee-of-trees.

Individuals and families are invited to join in an open-house style holiday event celebrating the spirit of charitable giving. All proceeds benefit patients at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital.

“We are committed to ensuring anything that can be done with cancer, from screening to treatment to support for survivors, can be done here with expertise and compassion, and ease the strain on families,” said Derrick Haslem, MD, medical oncologist at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital.

“Community philanthropy at the Jubilee of Trees has a huge impact on our work,” Dr. Haslem added. “We invite the community to participate in the Jubilee of Trees this year, and rally around this cancer center, which has become emblematic of our community’s fight against cancer.”

Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital serves Utah’s third-fastest-growing city. Now more than ever, cancer patients need access to its leading clinical experts, complex and unique cancer treatments, and survivorship care.

Doug Adams is one of those patients.

While living in Colorado eight years ago, he was diagnosed with Stage 4 prostate cancer. The prognosis he received was grim. He traveled the country searching for effective treatments.

Adams found the oncologist he was looking for at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital Cancer Center. He moved to St. George, where he was able to get doses of Pluvicto, a treatment that, at the time, was scarcely available nationwide outside of New Jersey. It worked.

“Eight years ago (doctors) said, basically, at 52, my life would be over in the next 18 to 24 months. Now it’s been 8 years. We’re thriving in St. George. God bless Intermountain,” Adams said.

Because of the treatments he received at the Cancer Center, Adams was able to celebrate his 60th birthday and continue the activities he enjoys, like cycling, in St. George. “Amazing place, amazing people,” he said. “Wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

Autum Marie Rasmussen, age 22, also hopes to celebrate her 60th birthday and beyond, thanks to the treatment she received at the Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital Cancer Center.

Rasmussen’s cancer journey began during an exercise workout. She thought she’d pulled a muscle in her leg.

When the pain progressed to her lower abdomen and became unbearable, she went to Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital for emergency care. Soon, scans and tests would confirm Rasmussen had Ewing sarcoma around her pubic bone, hip socket, and femur.

News of the diagnosis was tough, but Rasmussen is tougher. She has been documenting her journey on social media.

“It makes it a little easier, to make light of a really daunting situation,” she said.

Oncologists designed a treatment plan for Rasmussen, taking extra steps to help preserve her future plans to start a family. The plan allowed her to receive expert care without being hospitalized, and at the Cancer Center just 15 minutes away from her home.

“It’s been such a huge blessing that I’m able to be outpatient and be so close,” she said. “At the end of a day of treatments, I get to go back to the comforts of home and rejuvenate. I get to sleep in my own bed, be with my family, and have friends come over. Then, I am blessed to be able to come back to the Cancer Center and get life-saving treatments.”

By supporting in the Jubilee of Trees, the community can fuel the advancements that have helped Amanda, Doug, and Autum, and bring new hope to the spectrum of cancer patients served at Intermountain St. George Regional Hospital.

“Philanthropy is critical to the advancement of our expertise and the patient experience for how we deliver proactive care for people at risk for cancer, provide multi-disciplinary care for patients on the urology-oncology cancer journey as well as the gynecology-oncology journey, and meet the needs of those in survivorship,” said Loriana De Crescenzo, executive director of the Intermountain Foundation. “We urge our community to step forth in support of this cause and are grateful for their example and generosity.”

For more than 40 years, Jubilee of Trees has engaged community members from Southwest Utah and beyond in support of the most urgent needs at St. George Regional Hospital. The generosity of our community has been vital to the expansion of surgical services, pediatric and adolescent mental and behavioral health services, neuroscience services, and establishing LifeFlight services in St. George, in additions to numerous other contributions.

For tickets and information, visit https://intermountainhealthcare.org/foundation/jubilee-of-trees. For up-to-date information and announcements, please see the Intermountain Health newsroom at https://news.intermountainhealth.org.

NOTE FOR MEDIA:  Images and video available upon request.

About Intermountain Health

Headquartered in Utah with locations in six states and additional operations across the western U.S., Intermountain Health is a nonprofit system of 33 hospitals, 385 clinics, medical groups with some 4,600 employed physicians and advanced care providers, a health plans division called Select Health with more than one million members, and other health services. Helping people live the healthiest lives possible, Intermountain is committed to improving community health and is widely recognized as a leader in transforming healthcare by using evidence-based best practices to consistently deliver high-quality outcomes at sustainable costs. For more information or updates, see https://intermountainhealthcare.org/news.