Brain Tumors Suck! Support for Sam

Sam needs our help, y'all!

For those of you who may not be familiar with her story, Sam was diagnosed with ependymoma brain cancer at 9 years old. It's a rare disease causing brain/spinal cord tumors that often reoccur. The first tumor from Sam's childhood was successfully removed at Scottish Rite in 1995. After the initial surgery, Sam started going to Camp Sunshine, a wonderful cancer camp where she met her best friend, Stephanie Phillips. Stephanie lost her battle to cancer at age 18.

Inspired by her 7 years at Camp Sunshine, Sam - a forever camper - started working at Camp Twin Lakes, a year-round camp experience for children with serious illnesses, disabilities, and life challenges. She spent 6 years there providing life-changing, therapeutic, recreational, and medically-supportive camp experiences for kids with special needs.

After college, Sam worked for a domestic violence shelter as a child advocate and now works at Emory Hospital as a patient care coordinator.

After 22 years of remission, Emory discovered a new brain tumor last October. Since then, Sam's team of doctors have been monitoring its growth closely. Following her latest MRI in June, Sam learned that the tumor needs to be removed. Her surgery is scheduled for Thursday, July 6, 2017 and recovery time is about 2 months.

Sam's medical expenses will cost between 100 and 150 thousand dollars for the surgery alone. This estimate does not include hospital stay, doctor visits, medication, and loss of wages during her recovery. Sam does have insurance, but it only covers so much.

Let's help our friend. If you are able to contribute, please do! Any donation is very much appreciated.