THE SAMFUND IN THE NEWS
5 QUALITIES FOR POWERFUL CANCER ADVOCACY
January 19, 2017
Founder and CEO of The Samfund, Samantha Watson, describes her advocacy story. Passionate about providing a financial support system for other less fortunate young adult cancer survivors, but unable to find an existing non-profit to donate her time and energy to, she started The Samfund to fill that gap.
YOUNG ADULT CANCER SURVIVORS DISPROPORTIONATELY AFFECTED BY TREATMENT COSTS
August 19, 2016
Young adult (YA) cancer survivors are hit the hardest in the wallet by their treatment. In fact, as we discovered while analyzing our data for our research paper published in February 2016 in Cancer Medicine,1 the average net worth of YAs who have received grants from The Samfund is a staggering –$35,000 (yes, that’s a negative sign), while that of their counterparts, in the general population, is $68,000—a difference of more than $100,000. This disparity exists on top of the emotional, physical, and psychosocial deficits that YAs face.
DR. YOUSUF ZAFAR OF DUKE CANCER INSTITUTE JOINS THE SAMFUND’S ADVISORY COUNCIL
June 22, 2017
The Samfund has announced the addition of Yousuf Zafar, MD, associate professor of medicine and public policy, and a gastrointestinal oncologist at the Duke Cancer Institute, to its advisory council. Dr. Zafar will advise The Samfund on research and evaluation of data to enhance its ability to combat financial aftereffects of cancer treatment.
The Road to Parenthood After Cancer
June 19, 2017
The path to parenthood after cancer in young adulthood is different for everyone. But what all young adults have in common is uncertainty (whether cancer treatment will affect fertility, and/or whether they can preserve fertility before treatments), higher cost (in vitro fertilization, adoption, surrogacy, and any other way to start a family that doesn’t involve the traditional route carries astronomical costs that are rarely covered by insurance), and a general lack of guidance (unfortunately, conversations about family building rarely occur for myriad reasons).