You still have time to stroll through the more than 550 beautifully decorated trees at this year's Festival of Trees.
It's the 54th year of the annual holiday tradition and in addition to the trees twinkling with half a million lights, there are wreaths, nativities, gingerbread houses, quilts not to mention 5,000 pounds of Festival of Trees fudge in 51 flavors!
All the items up for sale are made by hand and donated by thousands of volunteers, many of home have been patients, or have had loved ones who were patients at Primary Children's Hospital.
All funds raised will support children in need. Children like 11-year-old Ruby. She's an active sixth-grader now, but when she was three, her parents Ali and Mark wondered if she would make it to her fifth birthday.
Ruby went to the doctor for a little white spot at the bottom of her neck. It ended up being cancer, and it had spread to her lungs, and one tumor was pressing on her heart.
Just as her family was considering hospice, doctors at Intermountain Primary Children's Hospital used a then-new technology, rapid whole genome sequencing (rWGS), on Ruby and the tumor. That helped them identify a new, targeted therapy for Ruby's cancer.
It worked. The tumors in Ruby's lungs shrunk by 90 percent in a few months. "Now, there's no evidence of disease, and she's been off treatment for three years," her mom said.
Festival of Trees goes through Saturday, December 7, 2024 at the Mountain America Expo Center.
You can get tickets at FestivalofTreesUtah.org, intermountainhealthcare.org or at the door.
