Herron takes time for St. Jude, provides 'Lumpy Van'

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Tim Herron has been involved in the Target House for St. Jude ever since Target was one of his sponsors.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- Cathy cradled her daughter Darcy in her arms.

Darcy is 5 years old. She's bald right now with a scar that runs from the nape of her neck about midway up the back of her tiny skull. She's endured more pain than many adults already, and there's more of what Cathy calls their "disaster" to come.

Darcy has an Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid tumor in her brain. At least, she did before doctors back home in Texas removed it. She and her mom and 3-year-old sister have come to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital for her radiation and chemotherapy.

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Prior to this week, Cathy and Darcy had never heard of the St. Jude Classic presented by FedEx. They didn't know the PGA TOUR event has raised more than $21 million for the hospital that specializes in treating childhood catastrophic diseases.

And they certainly didn't know Tim Herron.

Herron has been involved with Target House, which provides long-term housing for St. Jude patients and their families, since its inception. Target was one of his sponsors, but even now that he's no longer involved with the company, he's stayed close to the facility.

"It's kids, and kids being sick," Herron said simply. "It's pretty hard to walk away from something like that. ... (I) try and do something a little special every year to make them not think of what they're going through."

Herron donates money for every birdie he makes on TOUR to the facility, and he bought the "Lumpy Van" to help shuttle the children back and forth to the hospital. On Tuesday, he hosted a get-together at Target House for Darcy and the other children who live there.

"It's about them, though. Not me," Herron said. "I'm lucky and thankful that I've been blessed, so you want to give something back."

The big red M&M man who accompanied Herron, who wears the candy company logo on his chest, on Tuesday was a big hit. Especially for the tiniest patients like Darcy, and Herron was thrilled.

"I enjoyed that because I have a 7-year-old and two 4-year-olds so I kind of know," the four-time TOUR champ said with a smile. "It was really cool. ... We took pictures with M&M, handed out some candy, made them feel good for at least a brief time."

A chance like Tuesday to forget about what they're going through is important to Cathy and her family, who had their pictures taken with Herron and scooped up some Skittles. Any degree of normalcy is cherished in these difficult times.

Cathy and her daughters came to Target House in February. Darcy has completed five weeks of radiation and gotten a 21-day break at home. She starts the second of four rounds of chemotherapy on Sunday night.

"You hit this brick wall, and you try and piece it together as you go," Cathy said. "With all the questions left unanswered staying at home, there were answers at St. Jude. St. Jude brought us here and then gave us the Target House, and we are so thankful for that."

Her older two children are still in Texas with her husband Michael so they can finish out the school year. While she misses the rest of her family desperately, Target House gave Cathy the home-away-from-home she needed.

"We came empty handed with a backpack, and everything else was supplied," Cathy said. "If I needed a bed-rail, the bed-rail came. If I needed a different pan, a bigger pan, another coffee mug, I mean, whatever I needed, it was there.

"I walked into Target House for the first time with these two girls, and we walked into their room and there were two twin beds, both had a princess comforter. (Those are) the minor details that you forget to think about."

Cathy calls the people who work at Target House alternately "phenomenal" and "remarkable." They "want to be there for us and pick up where we can't -- where we're not capable because we're in an emotional situation," she said.

The same goes for the people at St. Jude.

"There's a lot that I've learned," Cathy said, as the pro-am continued outside the TPC Southwind clubhouse. "Like how widespread the St. Jude efforts go -- you don't realize it until you're in it. ... The people that do the St. Jude Classic, they know about it."

And people like Cathy and her daughter Darcy are why the tournament is so important.