“Shawna”

The Leigh Sakoda Foundation celebrated the 4th anniversary of Leigh’s passing by making a very important grant to a 25 year old woman in New York who was six days away from becoming a college graduate when she was unfortunately diagnosed with Blastic Plasmacytoid Dentritic Cell cancer, which is a very rare and aggressive form of Leukemia. She is the only child of her single mother, and they currently live with her maternal grandparents because they cannot afford a place of their own. She has had multiple chemotherapy treatments, has endured long hospitalizations through the years, and is on multiple medications. Her mother recently lost her job and the grant will be used to cover medical and transportation expenses for treatments not covered by insurance or Medicaid.