Sam Phillips (McMasters) Journey to Recovery

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” – Lao Tzu

Hi, my name is April Morrow. I’m reaching out to you because I have a really good friend who needs your help.

Sam Phillips isn’t one who would ask for help herself, but she truly needs it. Sam is a 52-year-old wife, mother, sister, and friend. She is one of the kindest and hardest working people I know. She was recently diagnosed with a rare blood cancer Myelodysplastic Syndrome (MDS) which is in the leukemia family. Sam has a long road ahead of her to get her into recovery and out on the other side of this battle. Chemo treatments are the first step in mountain she’s about to climb.

After that, she will need a bone marrow transplant, and that’s when the mountain will get quite steep. The transplant process is lengthy and will require a lot of endurance. Physical endurance, emotional endurance, spiritual endurance, AND financial endurance. She will be out of work at least 6 months to a year. She will be inpatient at Moffit Hospital for the first 30 days after the bone marrow transplant. After that, she’ll have two more months of outpatient care in which she will essentially be quarantined at an apartment near Moffitt. The reason for this is that when you destroy a person’s existing bone marrow with chemotherapy, and then inject new bone marrow, that person will be severely immuno-compromised for months. The doctors will need to closely monitor her organs to ensure that the new blood cells aren’t attacking them. Sam will be exhausted through this process, and she will need full-time care.

Because of this, we are asking for your help in covering Sam’s family with expenses, mortgage, food, and everything else they may need. She does have insurance through her work, but that only covers so much.

Sam’s climb over this mountain is going to be a long one, and we have so much hope, and with her strength, your help, and her village, Sam will be able to make it through this. We appreciate any amount you can give to help her through this journey.