“Carmen”

The Leigh Sakoda Foundation honored the life of Harry Weller, one of the foundation’s significant donors, who recently passed away at age 46. Harry was inspired by Leigh’s courage and compassion for others, and had a personal interest in helping young women fight rare and aggressive cancer. On this day we made a very important grant to a 26 year old woman in Florida who was diagnosed with Dysgerminoma, an extremely rare ovarian cancer. She had surgery to attempt to remove the tumor and has had to undergo a very long and complex chemotherapy regimen given the rare and aggressive nature of the disease. This has involved going to the hospital every day for two and a half straight weeks to get infusions and injections, for several months ongoing. She lives alone and has recently lost her job and does not have family locally to help her with her medical bills or living expenses. This grant will help with rent, uncovered medical costs, car payments, and insurance to she can focus on her treatment.