Undefeated: A Song That Honors A Brave St. Jude Soul

In January of 2014, I stood in my hotel room in downtown Memphis. Earlier that afternoon, at the St. Jude Country Cares conference, I had the chance to listen to a young man named Markell speak. He was one the patients featured in our annual 'Meet the Patients' panel hosted by then ALSAC Ceo Rick Shadyac.

My coworker Jaclyn Graves and I listened to Markell's story. We were struck by several things. For starters, this teenager was a charismatic force of nature. He commanded the attention of every single person in that room that day. He was charming, funny, brave, and agonizingly transparent. You wouldn't know it by listening to him, but nothing in Markell's life was coming easy. This teenager's body had been riddled with cancer over and over and over again.

After hearing Markell share his story, I returned to my room, which looked down into the urban streets of downtown Memphis. I started lightly tapping out a rhythm on my hotel room table. As I tapped, I started to hum. In the moments that followed, I wrote a song, a hymn for Markell. I immediately called it "Undefeated." To me, that summed up Markell. Despite all of his trials and tribulations- and they were endless- this kid seemed invincible. As fate would have it, he wasn't.

I had written Markell's song. Jaclyn sang it and, with the help of our friend Matt Gray (Gray Sky Music), we had it produced.

With the assistance of our St. Jude contacts, we arranged a surprise for Markell. We had an interview set up with him and, during that interview, we planned to play his song for him. Only, that didn't happen. Markell suffered a serious setback. The doctors weren't sure he would recover, but he did.

A year later, we finally got that interview with Markell. He had already heard our song. They played for it for him after her started to improve. He loved it. We did too. We still do.

Markell was a relentless fighter, but his opponent was ruthless. Just a couple of years after our writing of "Undefeated", everyone who knew Markell endured the agony of his eventual defeat.

As Jaclyn said, "This one hits hard." Honestly, it still does.

Markell's memory inspired Jaclyn to revisit the song for this year's WBKR St. Jude Radiothon. With help from her good friend David Rodgers, she performed "Undefeated" during our broadcast event.

Through our connection to Markell with the song we created for him- the song inspired by him- his spirit soars. He's with us every time our St. Jude Radiothon rolls around. That kid's a reminder of why it's so important to rally behind the patients at St. Jude. The hospital's founder, Danny Thomas, famously said, "No child should die in the dawn of life." That's been the guiding principle at St. Jude since. While we mourn those like Markell, who didn't make it, we celebrate those who survive. And, we celebrate Markell for inspiring their fight.

So, for Markell and all those patients currently battling the 'monster', we encourage you to become a St. Jude Partner in Hope by calling 1-800-201-8883. You can also text the word HOPE to 88388. It's just $19 a month for 12 months on a debit or credit card. If you become a Partner, you will receive the brand new 'Music Gives to St. Jude Kids' t-shirt and a limited edition St. Jude hoodie. And, most importantly, you will become part of this St. Jude family that will one day have a legion of kids who are 'undefeated.'