Meet Sammi

My name is Sammi Kayne and I am 19 years old. Labor Day weekend of 2019, I was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma Stage 4B at only 15. I was told that it was just a cold at the beginning, but it didn’t go away. I didn’t know what was happening to me and neither did my pediatrician, so they sent me to more doctors. During this time, I had gone back to school, but was extremely uncomfortable and itchy, which was one of the symptoms for the type of cancer that I had. Looking back now, I realize why I felt like I was going crazy, when in reality, I had cancer. I went through 5 rounds of chemo, 14 days of radiation, 3 blood transfusions, an MRI, X-Rays, and many other tests, and my sweet 16. After 6 months, I finished my treatment and went back to school. I was in school for 9 days, then my dog, who also had the same type of cancer that I had, lost his fight after beating it over 4 times, and then COVID shut the whole world down. I am now over 3 and a half years cancer free and going into my second year of college. Throughout my whole journey, my parents made sure I always had something to look forward to even on the bad days. For example, we were invited to a hockey game, the Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fights Cancer game, and I didn’t feel good during that round. My parents just told me to give it a try, and if I didn’t feel good we could leave. I ended up staying the entire game and have become a major hockey fan and even sang the national anthem at the Los Angeles Kings Hockey Fights Cancer Game in 2022 as my wish from Make a Wish. If my parents didn’t encourage me to have fun during my journey, I don’t think I would have “enjoyed” my cancer journey.

I’ve always wanted children, but you don’t realize how badly you want something until it is almost taken away. When I found out that cancer strips away most hope of having children, I knew I wanted to freeze my eggs. Since I was so young, my mom did plenty of research on grants to help pay for it, since it is already so expensive, and especially after a lot of cancer treatment, she found Team Maggie For A Cure. Because of Team Maggie, I was able to afford the egg retrieval process. Thank you so much for your generous donation.