Brandeis alum starts cancer organization

Samantha Eisenstein '01 was first diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma-a type of bone cancer frequently found in teenagers in which a tumor grows in the bone-in December 1999, right in the middle of her senior year."I got pretty lucky because they caught it early," she said.

Shortly after the diagnosis, Eisenstein went to New York City where she received seven rounds of high-dose chemotherapy and several surgeries at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. As part of her treatment, doctors removed six inches of Eisenstein's calf bone in her right leg, where the tumor was located, and implanted a bone from a donor cadaver. Today, six years after her surgery, Eisenstein described a scar that stretches from her knee down to her ankle.

"It is a big reminder of what I have been through and that I am here now," she said.

Surrounded by her close family and friends, Eisenstein recovered in Vermont, where she underwent several months of intensive physical therapy in order to regain the use of her right leg. After the tumor was removed, Eisenstein had to learn how to walk again. She used crutches for two years and eventually a cane for additional support.

"I knew what I could know about my situation [but because] dealing with your own mortality in your twenties is tough, [there] must be some level of self-preservation," Eisenstein said. Therefore, she was hesitant to consult statistics throughout her treatment and did not do any extensive research on Ewing's Sarcoma.

Eisenstein remembered her eagerness to return to Brandeis, a place she affectionately deemed "one of the most amazing on the planet." She returned in January 2001, but that April she was diagnosed with secondary myelodysplastic syndrome, a pre-leukemia condition that had been caused by the high doses of chemotherapy she received to treat Ewing's sarcoma. The chemotherapy, along with eradicating the cancerous cells, had also destroyed Eisenstein's bone marrow.

In August 2001, a few months after she graduated, Eisenstein received a bone marrow transplant and three more rounds of high-dosage chemotherapy. This bone marrow transplant placed healthy bone marrow, taken from a donor, back into Eisenstein's body.

Throughout her multiple treatments, Eisenstein said that she never wanted to "feel sorry for [herself]."

"You are dealt this hand [in life] and you can either wallow in it or play the game the best you can," she said.

For Eisenstein, this meant taking her personal experience and not only sharing it with others, but also using it as a source of inspiration to help other young adults facing a similar predicament.

Along with fellow Brandeis alumna Bridget Ahearn '01, Eisenstein started a nonprofit organization that seeks to help young adult survivors of cancer with the transition into post-treatment life. According to Eisenstein, although there are several organizations that help cancer survivors through support groups and information about long term medical care, there is no other organization that will assist young adult survivors financially.

Eisenstein first conceived the idea for her organization, Surviving and Moving Forward: the SAMfund for Young Adult Survivors of Cancer, while attending a conference in Spring 2003. The conference, held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was specifically designed for young adult cancer survivors. Eisenstein said that she felt "liberated and empowered" simply meeting other young survivors who were dealing with the same issues as her.

"It made such a difference to know that there were people out there," she said.

SAMFund provides grants and scholarships to young adult cancer survivors who are at a serious financial disadvantage because of the expensive costs of cancer treatment.

"So much in our society is based on money, [and] to live independently you have to have money," Eisenstein said.

SAMFund seeks to give these survivors a jump-start into the competitive world that survivors face after they leave the hospital and slowly transition back into their old lives. According to Eisenstein, SAMFund was developed to help survivors "empower themselves to pursue any goals they might have that have become financially hard because of cancer."

In SAMFund's two years of existence, the organization has surpassed initial expectations, and hosted its first fund raising event last Feb. 7 at the Elephant and Castle bar in Boston.

According to Eisenstein, "you can't take the cancer experience away from anyone," and thus people are often helpless. SAMFund provides a very tangible way for people to get involved and make a difference. SAMFund will be hosting their second annual open-mic night this March 5 at Elephant and Castle in Boston.

Currently, Eisenstein is back at Brandeis, enrolled in the M.B.A. program at the Heller School. Not only does Eisenstein run SAMFund while attending classes, but she also works part time at a nonprofit HIV-prevention organization. She hopes to graduate with her master's degree in August 2006, and at that point, continue her work at SAMFund full-time.

More than anything, Eisenstein said that her life has changed a lot in the past five years.

"I had no direction when I was in college," she said. Eisenstein now knows what it is like to have doctors put her life and plans for the future on hold indefinitely, yet she also knows what her true strength is. "People are constantly saying that cancer makes you stronger, and in the beginning I was reluctant to give any more credit to cancer," Eisenstein said. "It made me realize that I was pretty strong to begin with."

Eisenstein said her ultimate goal is to make people more aware of the unique struggle that young adult cancer survivor's face, especially after their treatment is over. For her, the creation of SAMFund has been the most positive part of her recovery. She said that she has more passion for the organization than she has ever felt before for any other cause. Eisenstein said that she only hopes that some of her passion will translate into positive action for other young survivors.