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Evansville girl meets Jennifer Aniston

By Laura Forbes - bio | email | Twitter
Posted by Noah Stubbs - email

EVANSVILLE, IN (WFIE) - An Evansville girl appears with actress Jennifer Aniston on a new public service announcement for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

Only a year ago, Amber Hardin was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer that only 18 percent of children survive.

But today, she is full of life.

She is the only girl on her T-ball team, a fact that Jennifer Aniston points out in a public service announcement for St. Jude Research Hospital.

The strong will that helps her beat the boys in baseball was one reason she was chosen as only a handful of kids who traveled to Los Angeles to shoot the announcements, and the only one to meet Aniston.

"She was nice and kept hugging me and kissing my head and wiped the lipstick off," Hardin said. 

Eight year old Amber is a little young to be a fan of Friends, but she knew Aniston from the movie Marley and Me.

Aniston signed a copy of the DVD for her.

"She was so personable," Hardin's aunt, Elizabeth Smith said. "Hugging her and telling her how precious she was, when she said those words. It just touched me to the bottom of my heart."

While shooting the PSA was an unforgettable experience, they hope more than anything it will inspire people to give.

They say without St. Jude, it's an experience Amber couldn't have had.

"We would still be grieving right now," Smith said. "We would be grief stricken as a family, because they literally saved her life."

You can expect to see that public service message sometime in the next couple of days.

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