When Samantha first began her chemotherapy treatments, her body had a negative reaction, weakening her body to the point of requiring Samantha to go on a ventilator. Due to these circumstances, it was recommended she go to Weisman Children’s Rehabilitation Hospital in Marlton, New Jersey, while she continued to fight her cancer with her treatment hospital in Philadelphia. Weisman Children’s team goal was to improve her physical condition, to aid in her ability to fight the cancer spreading in her body. This began what would become a long four-year journey for Samantha, one where she and her family touched and inspired many lives.
Samantha’s mother Shawna remembers what it felt like in the beginning, “There was so much unknown, we had never heard of Weisman Children’s but we wanted to do what was best for her and were willing to do whatever it took to get her through this. It was scary because you don’t know what is going to happen. In the end, our experience at Weisman Children’s was something special, we made lifelong friends.”
For Samantha, while life was throwing her a curveball, she had clear goals that the Weisman Children’s team wanted to help her achieve, such as being able to sleep in her own bedroom again, and getting back and finishing high school. “Everything was scary at first, I had to go to weekly cancer treatment appointments, I could not walk, I had a feeding tube, a trach, and an ostomy bag. Without the team of people at Weisman Children’s, I feel like I would probably still have a trach and not be able to walk.” Samantha continued, “Despite all of that, I was motivated by my family, my nurses, and everyone around at the hospital. They all helped me realize my goals and stay on track despite everything that had happened.”
During Samantha’s time in Weisman Children’s inpatient hospital, her cancer treatments caused her to experience hair loss. In order to lift her spirits the therapeutic recreation team thought it would be fun to take Samantha to the store to get a wig. Linnea Fargo, CTRS/CCLS, Lead Recreation/Child life Specialist for Weisman Children’s said this trip was when Samantha’s personality really started to come back and why they include trips like this in the program. “This is where Samantha was starting to feel like who she was again. An important part of recovery is wanting to go out and see other people and show yourself again. The funniest part is when she picked out a pink wig to express her fun side. I think we tried on 20 wigs. We had a blast it was fun to try on different personalities. She was really shining through.”
As Samantha’s body improved over time, she was well enough to transition out of Weisman Children’s inpatient program to one of Weisman Children’s outpatient centers located in Northfield, New Jersey. It was not a simple transition as the COVID-19 pandemic started at the same time. It was in outpatient where she was paired with Weisman Children’s Amanda Palombo, PT, DPT, PCS Pediatric Clinical Specialist / Senior Physical Therapist, someone who worked with her closely the rest of her recovery. When she first came to outpatient, Samantha was still undergoing treatment for cancer and was dealing with the additional stress that had come with dealing with her diagnosis.
“When Sammy first came to outpatient she was very anxious. I made it my goal to explain things to her in a way to make her more comfortable. Over time that made a huge difference in her therapy. To me, it is important to establish patient rapport to help her work towards her goals. One of her goals was she wanted to go onto the beach. So, as we were having therapy sessions, I would remind her that we were doing these exercises and scary things to be able to get her onto the beach again. It took a long time to build that rapport, but once we did Samantha made tremendous progress and left a lasting impact on me and my career.”
While Samantha had a great relationship with all of her therapists during her time at Weisman Children’s, working with Amanda for the longest period of time helped form a special bond for her as well. “She just became my friend. She pushed me, cared about me, and believed in me. She understood when I wasn’t feeling good and how to push me on certain days. She really cares, I could tell it wasn’t just work for her. She really cared about me and helping me meet my goals. I still want to tell her all the accomplishments I have done to this day.”
An interesting wrinkle was thrown into Samantha’s outpatient program in the form of the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. For a few months, all of the Weisman Children’s outpatient services went strictly to telehealth services, however this ended up being a positive for Samantha. “The best thing about having to switch to telehealth services for a few months was that the therapy team was able to see my house directly on the screen which allowed them to come up with a plan for me to get back up the stairs and into my bedroom. When telehealth started, I was still in a hospital bed in my home and up until that point, I had not been in my own bedroom for 528 days. Being able to stay connected to Weisman Children’s at that time, work with Amanda and Meredith (another Weisman Children’s physical therapist) made a huge difference. When I was able to get back to my room, that was a major accomplishment for me.”
The experience was rewarding for Amanda as well. “The first time she got into her room, her mom brought the webcam camera up with her. I was able to watch her make this huge progress while also helping her get back down the stairs. It was a great day in her recovery.”
While returning to her bedroom was a major goal and accomplishment for Samantha, her journey with Weisman Children’s did not end there. By the summer of 2020, the years of cancer treatments took a toll on her body. Samantha was suffering from side effects in her knees and ankles that forced her to limit the amount of weight bearing her body could handle. Still needing to build up strength, Amanda suggested transferring Samantha to Weisman Children’s Marlton location, which has access to a therapeutic pool, where she could help build up Samantha’s lower body strength in an environment that would lessen the weight on Samantha’s body.
Despite the commute to therapy being longer than before with the location change, moving to an aquatic therapy helped Samantha physically and mentally, “The pool helped me get moving again. I think it helped with desensitizing the feeling in my feet. It helped me gain strength and it was very calming for me. I liked going, I liked swimming in the pool.” Shawna added, “We drove her up to Marlton three days a week, we are so thankful it was recommended for her because at the time she still wasn’t doing any activities that a normal teenager would be able to do, so it was nice to make her feel a little bit normal again while also receiving the care she needed.”
In February 2021, Samantha was officially finished with cancer treatments and declared cancer free. Her long-standing goal from the beginning of her journey was to get back to school and graduate on time. This required Samantha to keep up with her schoolwork as much as should could. “My biggest goal through everything was that I wanted to make sure that I could graduate with the same people I went to school with my entire life. That required staying up on my schoolwork year round as best as I could. When I started in Weisman Children’s inpatient they connected me with someone from the Bancroft school.”
Through staying up with her studies and working hard every day in therapy through the spring and summer of 2021, Samantha was able to return to school in Fall of 2021, her senior year. Her next goal was walking at graduation. “I am happy I was able to graduate on time in June of 2022. Graduation day was awesome and it was great to be able to do that. Really amazing.”
Samantha already knows what is next for her, something those four years of her life pushed her towards. She wants to become a child life specialist and help those the way she was helped during her time with Weisman Children’s. “I want to be a child life specialist. Working with the people from both Weisman Children’s and my treatment hospital left a huge impact on me and I want to do that for other kids who are going through the same struggles.”
Weisman Children’s Child life specialist Linnea thinks it is a great career choice for Samantha, “Sam’s experience inspired her to want to help people. She was very open to just talking to people and her personality lends to that really well. She has a unique experience and can really empathize with others on an entirely different level. She is easy to talk to and makes people feel comfortable and I think she is going to be awesome.”
Amanda also sees a bright future for Samantha, “I saw her grow so much during her entire time with us. I would love to see her in an acute rehab hospital setting as a child life specialist and to help kids going through any type of hardship. She is going to be able to have such a different eye for it. I want her to be able to live her daily life with the least amount of complications. To not have any huge physical challenges. She has now developed such a good mindset and has been through the worst of the worst, but to be able to support other children going through their own challenges would be great for her.”
One thing is certain, through it all Samantha will always try to inspire others. “One thing to remember is to never give up. Always keep pushing forward and even if your goals seem impossible, you have to believe in yourself. Laughter is the best medicine. My family and I always stay positive and that has definitely helped a lot.”