An early St. Jude Christmas present grows from one small tweet

Memphis Commercial Appeal

Danni Messina (right), a sophomore at Washington State University, endorsed a check for $190,000 to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital during a ceremony on the hospital's campus Wednesday morning. In November, Messina tweeted to her 1,617 followers the importance of giving and said she would donate 50 cents for every retweet and a quarter for every favorite to St. Jude. The tweet went viral receiving 476,000 likes and 205,000 retweets within hours, ignited a successful fundraising drive. Messina, who did not expect the outpouring of support, was able to raise the pledged money through a GoFundMe campaign and with a generous donation and support from Kmart.

It's been quite a month for Danni Messina, and both she and the patients of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital are the richer for it.

"It's been insane," Messina said Wednesday while standing inside the Danny Thomas/ALSAC Pavilion on the St. Jude campus.

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That was perhaps the most succinct summation of the day for Messina's coaster ride, an odyssey that began with a November tweet on the other side of the country.

Messina, a 19-year-old Seattle native attending Washington State University, tweeted Nov. 25 that she would pledge 25 cents to St. Jude for each favorite she got on her tweet, and 50 cents for each retweet. She expected the tweet to stay within her circle of friends and allow her to meet her plan to donate $1,000 to the hospital.

Then things went sideways — or insane, to use Messina's word.

The tweet took on a life of its own, spread around enough to require roughly $50,000 if Messina was to honor her commitment. A GoFundMe campaign stepped up to help, then St. Jude caught wind and hooked Messina up with corporate partner Kmart, which held a "Danni Messina Day" at its stores to raise funds.

By the time it was over, Messina's little tweet resulted in a $190,000 donation to St. Jude, which Messina was on hand to present in person Wednesday. Along with the presentation, Messina got a tour of the hospital and spent some time with St. Jude patient Madison Conklin, with whom Messina struck up a friendship during the course of the fund-raising effort.

"It's just been so heart-warming," said Messina, who had never been to Memphis or St. Jude. She was inspired to help the St. Jude after talking with a friend who had spent Thanksgiving with his grandmother in the hospital. "Being here, it's just so real now."

Conklin, 20, became part of the story through, naturally, Twitter. She saw Messina's original tweet and began following her. Then, when Conklin later tweeted one of her friend's stories and how that friend was running out of treatment options, Messina saw it and reached out.

"She (Messina) saw it and asked if I was a patient," said Conklin, who was diagnosed last November with Hodgkin Lymphoma. Conklin, of Memphis, was in school in East Tennessee at the time of her diagnosis, but moved back home for treatment at St. Jude.

"We messaged back and forth, and Danni said she was coming to Memphis and would like to meet," Conklin said.

And so they did. The two met and hugged and toured a place they both called special.

"Seeing that St. Jude means so much to her even though she hasn't been affected means a lot to me," Conklin said.

So how does Messina follow up this act?

"I'll probably do something again with St. Jude in 2018, but something different," she said after a moment's thought. "Maybe a clothing drive or a toy drive. We'll see."