“Sophia”

The Leigh Sakoda Foundation celebrated Thanksgiving by making a very important grant to a 30 year old diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma (a very rare blood cancer). She immediately left her job to begin chemotherapy, and during this time her young daughter was also diagnosed with a neuroblastoma (a cancer on the outside of the skull) and for six months they were in treatment at the same time. Sadly, her daughter passed away later that year. Though she went into remission and has since given birth to a healthy son, she has recurrence of the disease and must undergo lifelong treatment, much of which is not covered by insurance.