Samantha's Cancer Fund

Sammantha Schutz is 29 years old. She has two boys named Domenic and Angelo. Samantha is a hard working mother and the strongest woman you will ever meet. She needs everyones help. To know her is to love her. Samantha has bills pilling up and needs help to pay her bills and help her boys.

 This past Monday, Samantha had a full hysterectomy. The surgery was only supposed to be two hours, but turned into 4.  The doctors gave her life changing news; it was she has ovarian cancer that is at stage 3.  The oncologist that was on call that evening had to take out lympnodes that are most likely cancerous and there is dusting of cancer above her liver. Thankfully the cancer did not invade her liver so they think they got all.

In about a week she starts intensive chemo therapy through the port in her side as well as through an IV. The doctors told Sam she will probably lose her hair and be very sick this is happening for four months so she will be out of work.  Her oncologist says she has a 75 percent chance of remission; but her journey is long.  They are currently doing other blood work to make sure the cancer did not start somewhere else. ****ALL FUNDS WILL BE SECURED BY SAMANTHA'S MOM YVONNE SCHULTZ******

I want to update everyone on Samantha's condition. A couple of nights ago, Samantha said she found a lump in her breast. She went to the oncologist and they told her that she could not start chemo because her port was not fully healed. He read her pathology report and her lymph nodes came back positive for cancer as well. She has ovarian cancer stage 3C. Which means the cancer metastasized. If that was not enough for the young mother to hear, they told her if she goes into remission after chemo, and the cancer comes back she would have 5-7 years left. Lastly, the oncologist said that she has to go for a biopsy on her stomach. I ask that everyone keep donating and keep praying. I will keep everyone updated as more information comes my way.

Hey all sorry this has taken me awhile to get an update. Recently Samantha took a turn for the worse; her mom (Yvonne) and I found her on her porch thrashing. She went out to take a phone call and all of a sudden she started to have a seizure. Her mom called 911; and her roommate flipped her on her side so she would not choke on her spit. She was grunting and thrashing for 2-3 minutes. Once she stopped thrashing and came to; she had no recollection of what happened. She had spit covering her face and on her phone, she had blood coming out of her nose. Luckily; her mother and I brought her to the hospital; where they ran tests. The good news is she did not damage her port and the cancer did not spread. She did have a slight concussion but is recovering. She starts chemo on the 16th. We ask that everyone PLEASE keep sharing and keep donating she needs us more than ever! I will keep everyone updated as her journey continues. Keep her in your prayers and keep donating! All is appreciated!

They say everyone that comes into your life to teach you something, whether that be a lesson, give you an experience or give you role model to look up to and aspire to be someday. I can say I have one of those people in my life. She is young and life has tested her strength multiple times. She is the person I aspire to be and if one day I can be half the women she is then I am lucky beyond words. Her value is priceless and it is the golden nugget within her heart that will take her to high places. Her name is Samantha Schultz.

I have learned what it truly means to be strong, to be someone of character. Samantha is this person who lights up every room she walks in. I have only become better by knowing her and with that I try to be a women of character. Every day I live I am writing my own biography we are all authors of our own lives. I take a page, no a chapter out of Samantha’s book. She loves hard and her tenacity is infectious. My goal is to become a teacher, my goal is to dream big and achieve bigger. As a future teacher and working in a classroom, kids will test you and test how strong you can be. They need someone to believe in them, someone to push them to be better. While this is my role in the classroom, outside the classroom Samantha is the teacher and I am her student she teaches me to never back down from a challenge. All challenges are meant to make us better and to test how badly we want something. Watching Samantha live life is truly humbling and being able to learn from her is truly an honor. She inspires everyone she comes in contact with.

People ask me how did I become so wise, how come I work so hard at things and I tell them because Samantha shown me how. She had a role model in her grandmother who passed from breast cancer. But for Samantha this wasn’t a loss, but her soul gaining a light that could never be blown out like a trick candle. It is the fire that burns endlessly, it is the voice in her head reminding her that her value grows every day that she conquers.  I know her grandmother looks down at her from Heaven everyday and smiles. Samantha has a tattoo that says, “never look back” very fitting for her. No matter what her past dealt her, she never looks back only forward. As a person, we never know what our purpose is or even our full value until the right moment. I hope that as much as Samantha has done for me, I have done even a little something for her. There is nothing Samantha can’t do, there is nothing that ever stops her from being a great mom, a true friend, a loved daughter, an inspired grand daughter. Yes, she is all that, but that is only part of who she is. She is like a water color painting whose colors never fade, never blend in a way that is not as beautiful as she is. She never goes a day without reminding me I have my own inner fire, my own value that should sparkle and be treasured.

Samantha taught me to not just reach for the stars, but reach for the moon. I know she is meant to do good things in life, I know she is meant to be treated like gold. I know she will be the brightest star in life. I believe good things come to those like Samantha. Her path might be rocky, their might be holes in the road and maybe a dead end here and there, but Samantha has the will to carry on. A poet by Robert Frost said, “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—

I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” That fits Samantha perfectly. She never fell to her surroundings and continues to dare to be different and that is the part of her that inspires me most about her.

            She never loses herself despite the darkness that might be around her. Samantha is a person I admire and a person I am honored to know. She humbles me in more ways than I ever thought possible. She is a strong spirit that fights everyday for what is hers. She never surrenders or gives up, she never runs away or backs down from a challenge. All that she and all she will be is why this world will be a better place and she will touch lives every where.

            There are not enough good things I can tell her or even put in this essay, but she came into my life and has taught me everything from having dreams to being a good person. She exceeds everyone’s expectations of what they have for her and there is no better friend in my life than Samantha.