Misty Fantini, AP Team Lead in Accounting, graciously and lovingly typed up the below story to bring awareness to childhood cancer, and remember her remarkable daughter. She put Benchmark in touch with Heroes for Children, a non profit that helps kids fight cancer. https://www.heroesforchildren.org/

Sammy was diagnosed with a Wilms tumor when she was 4 years old. We were told she only had a 40% chance of survival. The tumor was on her kidney bed went up her vena cava and into her atrium. She took many rounds of chemo to shrink the tumor before having her kidney removed and open-heart surgery to remove the remaining tumor from her atrium. She had several rounds of chemo and radiation afterwards until she got better. For just about 5 years she was cancer free, and everyone called her the miracle girl. She had this unshakeable faith in God and inspired so many. I can only imagine the number of people that came to know Christ through her. We became wish granters during this time with make a wish and help plan / grant over 50 wishes. She loved encouraging the children to stay strong and keep fighting.

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Then the cancer returned twice and the third time it spread to her lungs and eventually took her. Sammy won her battle with childhood cancer and went to be with our heavenly father on 10/02/2016 at the age of 14.

Many people think cancer is for older people. I never even knew childhood cancer existed until I heard the words your child has cancer.