The Randall Speck Pediatric Special Needs Fund

 

Randall Speck’s Storyrandall speck fund

In January 1996, Randall Speck was diagnosed with Stage IV Rhabdomyosarcoma. It was rare in children and because of the advanced stage of the cancer, the survival rate was virtually non-existent. Randall was sent to St. Jude Hospital in Memphis for treatment and lived for ten months following the diagnosis.

During this time, his family was told of the Pediatric Oncology Department at Memorial Hospital. Because of this facility, his family was able to bring Randall home for short visits that allowed him to have his chemo and additional care in Gulfport. This allowed Randall to come home to see family and friends that provided some normalcy in his life, which is so important to all of us, but especially to a sixteen year-old boy. Without the services offered by Memorial, Randall would have had to stay at St. Jude for ten long months. Randall passed away on November 23, 1996 of cancer at St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, TN.

Randall’s sister, Allison Walker, has a page on her website dedicated to her brother. According to her, he was 16 and just beginning life. She says he was your typical teenager that absolutely LOVED life! He was an outdoors person who enjoyed hunting, fishing and watching NASCAR. “A good ole’ country boy at that,” she says. “I am quite sure that he and the ‘famous’ Dale Earnhardt – the ‘Intimidator’ – are enjoying the heavenly life ’bout now.”

About the Randall Speck Pediatric Special Needs Fund

The Randall Speck Pediatric Special Needs Fund was established by Randall’s parents Richard and Carol Speck and his sister Allison Walker and her husband Jason. “It has been our desire to keep Randall’s memory alive by helping children whose parents have medical expenses they can’t meet. With this endowment fund, our family’s dream has come to fruition,” said Mrs. Speck. Donations made to this fund will be used to assist Memorial pediatric patients (or patients of physicians who use Memorial facilities or programs) with medicine and equipment.