Smiling Through Sarcoma

Hi! Thank you for visiting the site. My name is Sandra Franco, Samantha's sister. I wanted to help create this page to raise funds for treatment for my little sister. On September 18, 2013, my life as I know it stopped dead in its tracks. This is the day I found out that my freshly 22 year old, 'baby' sister, the light of my life and most other people in her life, has cancer. Not just any type of cancer, but synovial sarcoma, something I had never before heard of. This is a rare, aggressive type of cancer that normally occurs in the soft tissue of the arms or legs, but can spread to other parts of the body. Unfortunately, my sister's 'rare' cancer has grown and spread to her pelvis and is said to be in stage IV. There is no stage V.

Meet Samantha. Youngest of 3 sisters, 3 best friends. Avid soccer player and all-around athlete since the third grade. Granted a scholarship for soccer, but chose to stay close to home to be near family. Went on to help bring her county soccer team to #3 in the nation. All her life, all my sister has ever talked about was helping others. If asked what she wanted to 'be' or 'do' it was travel the world and make people's lives better. She dreams big, and I'm confident she can make it happen.


So now this. CANCER. As i said, my life stopped. I have become consumed with researching and knowing every last horrible detail about this disease, different treatment options, outcomes. But not Sam. She has vowed that this 'roadblock' will not stop her life, will not bring her down. She is possibly the most positive, strongest, and stubborn person I have ever met. Don't get me wrong. Sam has been doing plenty of research, but in a different way than most of us. She has been educating herself on 'other' ways of attacking this beast. The alternative methods. She believes in a whole body/mind approach and a lifestyle change to beating this disease. Whereas traditional methods mostly use only medicine and surgery (Sam is not eligible for surgery because of the advanced stage), alternative methods use nature, exercise, and the mind, holistic techniques. Many times, these alternative methods are used with a combination of low-dose traditional medicine. It is really very interesting, and my family has all learned to accept some of these practices. There are many success stories, as there are with traditional methods. Is it a guaranteed cure? Definitely not. But then again, neither is chemotherapy. Sam keeps saying, "there's no guarantee either way, so I might as well do something I truly BELIEVE in." Which is why I now know at a time like this there is only HOPE and BELIEF. This, I know, is the exact truth that she wants to share with the world.

Sam, with the help of my parents, has looked into many different health and wellness centers that treat people just like her. Unfortunately, the best places seem to be far from us, very expensive and not covered by insurance. With much research, she has narrowed it down to the one she believes is the best match for her- Oasis of Hope, located in Mexico. This center combines conventional and alternative treatments, which is what Sam is ultimately hoping for. A large down payment is Samantha's ticket in the front door. My biggest fear is time. Time is precious. With every day that passes and my sister is not getting treatment, the cancer is growing.

Please help my family and me get my sister treated and CURED. She truly believes this is the path that she is supposed to take. When she overcomes this I know that she will continue on her path to help people all over the world. For this, we cannot wait.

No donation is too small, all are welcome and so very appreciated.