#RallyKid Sammy's Fundraiser

Hey, my name is Samuel Mitchell but all my friends call me Sammy. I was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia on November 2, 2022. My family and I were all devastated, knowing it was going to be a long road to beat this thing. I began with multiple rounds of chemotherapy, each time staying around 30 days at CHOA Egleston. Then we found out I would need a Bone Marrow Transplant in order to to give me a smaller chance of relapse. The next step was finding a donor, which ended up being a 10 out of 10 match. I was admitted to the Bone Marrow Transplant area of the floor where I began extreme amounts of Chemotherapy to wipe out all of my blood cells with Dr Schoettler monitoring and planning every step. Next was transplant day where they injected my donor's cells into my body. I sat back and waited for my body to react to the new cells but in the meantime I began to develop mouth sores and constant nausea from all the chemo. Slowly but surely, my white cells began to rise and rise which is what you want to see after a BMT. Next thing I knew I was ringing the bell leaving the hospital saying I am Cancer free but having to be quarantined for almost a full year was rough along with constant hospital appointments which I still have to attend, today. I finally returned back to school and baseball. Everybody sees that I am back to normal but the truth is, a lot of cancer survivors don't have the same normal as other people. Children, especially, deal with a lot of side effects because our bodies are still growing quickly. For example, a medication caused pneumonia that had me hospitalized for weeks and breaking my arm while pitching was very unusual. Now, 2 years out from beating cancer, I still have random nausea and sicknesses. I have begun to accept nausea, sicknesses, and hospital appointments as my new normal but that's fine with me because I am still here on this planet doing the things I love, like hanging with my friends and playing baseball thanks to God, Dr. Schoettler, my family, my friends, Rally and many other cancer organizations, but especially my Bone Marrow donor Liz.

By making a donation, you are directly supporting childhood cancer research through the Rally Foundation.

Your donation will contribute to the ongoing efforts to develop better treatments with fewer long-term side effects, and ultimately, find cures for young patients like Wesley. Stand with us in this critical cause and help bring hope to children and families battling cancer.