Sammy Carroll #No One Fights Alone

 Sammy’s story begins on Valentine’s Day weekend 2021. Sam, 19 years old, while at work started feeling pain in his stomach, he muscled through his shift for as long as he could until the pain became unbearable, at the point he knew he was unable to drive but he knew he had to get to a doctor quickly,  so he asked a coworker to drive him to the closest walk in medical facility, Sammy was seen and immediately sent the closest emergency room.... In that moment, the lives of Sammy and his family would change. 

Sam was diagnosed with testicular cancer that had spread from his testicles to his lymph nodes, lungs, and spine. This news, as you can imagine, was not only shocking  but completely devastating to everyone. While everyone, especially Sam’s parents, Jackie and David were trying to wrap their minds around all of this, meeting with many doctors, planning and preparing for the biggest fight of their lives, Sammy quickly realized that his chances of ever having children were now greatly compromised. While the family worried about Sammy’s life, Sammy was worried about one day having his own children. Jackie, doing what moms do, was determined that Sam would some day have as much of a chance at having children as anyone else, so she made him that promise! Together, Jackie and David made this promise happen! With more doctors, paperwork and very quick planning they were able to make arrangements with a fertility clinic to insure that Sam would get that opportunity- promises made, promise kept!

So now just one week in since the diagnosis, the fight would begin with the first treatment scheduled in just a few days. However, just days before the first treatment, Sam had a setback, he was hospitalized because the tumors in his lungs were now causing him to cough up blood. The oncologists decided that while he was in the hospital it would be best to start his first round of Chemo right away. The first week of about 12 weeks of treatment went well.  

Because of Covid-19, no visitors would be allowed, but by the Grace of God, and the wonderful staff at the hospital,  Jackie was able to stay with Sam the entire time! (She never left his side, not once the entire week, they even allowed her to shower there) Those who know Jackie, know that she would have made her way into that hospital no matter what anyway, let’s just say we are so relieved they gave her permission!

After the first treatment which lasted for several days, Sam was able to return home to rest before the next week of treatment,  but not long after returning home, Sam had yet another set back. While Sam was resting in the comfort of his own bed (finally), he started to have trouble breathing, and once again he was rushed to the ER, this time he would have a collapsed lung filled with fluid, he would be admitted to the ICU, where he will stay until it’s time for round 2 of his chemo. 

As of today, Sammy is hospitalized and has not had much rest between treatments, but he is hanging strong, SammyStrong! 

You are now caught up on exactly where Sam is in his battle, thank you for reading. 

We are trying to raise money for several reasons, first, Jackie has exhausted all of her leave with work, but will need many more days off, while her job is safe, she will need to take leave without pay on and off for next several months.  Secondly, to assist with covering the costs associated with the fertility clinic. 

 Finally, Sammy worked a full time job at Arundel Seafood prior to his diagnosis, he had been working a lot of hours to save for a car! Although he won’t be able to work for some time, he is looking forward to going back to work with the kind and wonderful friends he has made there. 

I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to read Sammy’s story, I will continue to update everyone as I get more news. 

While testicular cancer has a very high success rate, it’s a cancer that is very aggressive and can spread very quickly and without warning, just as it did in Sam’s case.

For anyone who is reading this, please pass along to your friends and family how  important it is  for men (especially between the ages of 15-35) to perform self exams. Sometimes there may be a small painless lump that may seem like nothing worry about or unexplained stomach pain- if so, don’t wait,  get it checked right away, is better to be safe than sorry! 

In addition to raising funds to help Sammy and his family stay afloat financially, ease the worry of financial burdens, we also want spread awareness about testicular cancer. Please share this story with people you love and hopefully they will pass it on and so on. 

A word about Sammy and his family- 

Sammy is the sweetest boy with a great sense of humor. Sam loves his family and he works hard.  If anyone can pull through this, and put up a tough fight, it’s Sam. Sammy has a great team in his corner, with his  parents, Jackie and David beside him he knows he is loved and that they will stop at nothing until their boy is well again. Sammy’s sister Grace, is a strong and beautiful girl, at just 18, she’s keeping things together on the home front while having her own worries about her big brother. Grace has been such an amazing part of this, the help that she provides to her parents and Sammy is immeasurable, simply put, they couldn’t do this without her.  Their family unit is unstoppable and will continue to fight the fight every inch of the way right by Sammy’s side! 

Sammy has his grandparents, many cousins, aunts, uncles and friends that love him and who are praying hard for him! We will be cheering him on right to the finish line!

Please pass this too as many people as you can and thank you for your donation! 

NO ONE FIGHTS ALONE
# Sammy Strong

 **To adhere to gofundme.com policies and to provide full transparency to our  donors, I have been asked to provide the following information.

As campaign organizer,  I’d like to introduce myself, my name is Kelly Latham-Pizarro and I’m Sammy’s aunt. I reside in Pasadena, Maryland. The reason for this campaign is to assist Sammy and his family with monetary donations that they will be used to pay for any medical bills not covered by their family  insurance, fees associated with the fertility clinic that attended to Sam and to help with any lost wages of his parents that may arise during Sam’s treatment. All funds will be transferred from gofundme.com via my personal banking account, at Jackie’s request, then the funds will be used to open a separate bank account that will be owned by Sammy and his parents. If anyone would like any further information, please feel free to contact me.