In 2007, Jentai was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at just two years old. During treatment at Children’s Minnesota, she not only received life-saving medical care, but also a life-changing experience through the health system’s pet therapy program.
During her initial stay at Children’s Minnesota, Jentai developed mouth sores from radiation treatment and was struggling to eat due to the pain. She was just hours away from having a feeding tube put in. Her mom, Jo, remembered not seeing a smile on Jentai’s face for days. That all changed when Sasha, a Children’s Minnesota volunteer dog, happened to pass by Jentai’s room.
“Sasha walked past our room and Jentai smiled,” Jo says. “It was the first time she’d smiled in a week. All it took was for the dog to come into the room and, all of a sudden, she wanted food. Then we were in the clear again.”
Photography provided by Children’s Minnesota
Sasha and the other service animals visited with Jentai throughout her stay at Children’s Minnesota, which gave her the energy to eat and the strength she needed to keep fighting cancer. She was cancer-free by the time she turned five years old.
“Everything there was amazing,” shares Jo. “We collected the volunteer animals’ little baseball cards, and music therapy was always fun. If we were going to be in that situation, that’s the place I want to be. I didn’t even know Child Life was a thing until we went to Children’s. That’s such a great program to have.”
Jentai, now a cancer-free 19-year-old, was so inspired by her experiences with the service animals and Child Life department at Children’s Minnesota that she’s now getting her undergraduate degree in animal science. “Animals can just do so much for you, especially working animals,” Jentai says.
Jentai is also nearly a fifth-degree black belt, which helped her gain back the mobility that she lost during radiation. In the future, she hopes to provide joy to other kids in similar positions with her own animals.
The supportive care Jentai received from Child Life through volunteer services is offered by the Child and Family Services program at Children’s Minnesota. These services are provided at no cost to patient families and are only possible with philanthropic support. Child and Family Services was the focus of this year’s Children’s Minnesota Star Gala, one of the biggest nights of the year for the philanthropic community in the Twin Cities. $2.14 million dollars were raised at Star Gala 2025, which will continue to allow Children’s Minnesota to provide an exceptional experience for patients and their families.
If you’re interested in getting involved with or supporting Star Gala 2026, there are many opportunities available. You can visit ChildrensMN.org/StarGala to learn more about different ways to support, from sponsorship to volunteering to joining an event committee.
