Now imagine that you have just finished cancer treatment. You have lost time, lost savings, and now find yourself years behind everyone else in your age group. To top it off, you are suddenly faced with the "real world" expenses that you didn't have to think about during treatment. In addition, you are trying to pay off residual medical bills while simultaneously accruing new ones through follow-up tests and check-ups.

When all of these issues collide, how are you supposed to pay for rent? How can you be expected to find a job when you may not have enough money to live on your own in the meantime? How can you possibly afford college or graduate school?

Surviving and Moving Forward: The SAMFund for Young Adult Survivors of Cancer was born in the spring of 2003, after we attended a conference for cancer survivors and their caregivers and friends between the ages of 18 and 35, entitled “I’m Too Young for This.”

At this conference, we were struck by the fact that there are so many young adult survivors out there, who have distinctly different emotional, financial, and medical needs than those of adults or children currently in treatment, and while wonderful organizations exist to support cancer survivors through emotional outlets, support groups, and information about long term care and follow-up, no organization exists solely to financially assist young adult survivors with their transition to post-treatment life.

Frustrated by the lack of comprehensive and unified support for this aspect of the young adult survivor experience, we were seeking an avenue for supporting this transition in a very concrete way.

By providing various grants and scholarships to young adult survivors – to help supplement the money that they and their families had lost during treatment, and pay for specific transitional issues, such as education, living, job search and lingering medical expenses – The SAMFund will fill a much needed gap in the young adult survivor community.

We will partner with existing organizations to provide the most comprehensive support possible so these young adults can not only survive, but truly move forward.