Kids with Cancer

The 8-Year-Old With a Mission: Sadie’s Story

by Erinn Jessop, St. Baldrick's Foundation
February 23, 2016

Honored Kid Sadie wants you — and everyone in the world — to know about childhood cancer. Read on to learn more about this resilient 8-year-old’s cancer journey and how she raises awareness and crucial funds for childhood cancer research.

Sadie shows off her muscles

8-year-old Sadie shows off her strength.

Sadie is on a mission.

The 8-year-old was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia last year. Through a rollercoaster ride of treatments, side effects and infections, the precocious girl has made childhood cancer her cause.

“Her mission is just to make as many people as possible know that kids get cancer too,” said her mom, Sarah.

It all started last year, when Sadie kept getting sick.

First it was the flu. Then while playing soccer, Sadie complained that she couldn’t catch her breath. Then she caught strep throat.

One night, in the bathtub, Sarah noticed little red dots had surfaced on her daughter’s legs. The next day, when Sadie hopped in her mom’s car after school, the little girl said the dots had spread to her stomach.

Sadie couldn’t seem to catch a break, so her mom called their pediatrician.

“It never even crossed my mind that something serious was wrong,” Sarah said.

Sadie smiles for the camera

Before her diagnosis, Sadie loved soccer and putting on makeup. Now, raising awareness is one of her favorite things to do.

Mother and daughter went to a lab to get Sadie’s blood drawn, arriving just before the place closed. At 8 a.m. the very next morning, the pediatrician called. She told Sarah to pull Sadie out of school and come to her office.

It turned out that something serious was wrong — something Sarah and her husband, Shawn, never imagined.

“She said, ‘Her lab results are showing that she has acute leukemia,’” Sarah recalled. “We just lost it.”

The next hours of packing and rushing to the hospital were an unreal blur for the family.

“Literally, we found out at 8 a.m. and she started chemo at 10 p.m. that night,” Sarah said. “Then it’s just on after that, full force. No dull moments.”

Sadie twirls next to the Christmas tree

Sadie is now in the maintenance phase of her leukemia treatment. She’ll be finished in May 2017.

It hasn’t been an easy road. The little girl has endured migraines, infections, fevers and wounds that wouldn’t heal.

Through it all, Sadie has stayed strong. In fact, that’s become her battle cry — “Sadie strong.“

“She never feels sorry for herself,” Sarah said. “She’s never asked, ‘Why me?’ She’s always just embraced it and gotten through it.”

In fact, she hasn’t just gotten through it by herself. She’s helping others.

Sadie shares her experiences by making informative videos about childhood cancer and what it’s like to have it. For the first video, she squirreled herself away in her mom’s closet, filming herself and her thoughts while sitting on the floor between the racks of clothes.

Watch Sadie’s video and learn about her life as a kid with cancer >

“She just doesn’t like to focus on herself. She really tries to turn that onto other people and ways she can help or raise awareness or those types of things,” Sarah said. “She always has loved doing videos, but now her videos have turned into cancer videos.”

Sadie smiles

Sadie is dedicated to raising crucial funds for childhood cancer research, because she knows just how important funding research is.

Sadie has raised more than awareness. She’s fundraised $5,550 for childhood cancer research through her fundraiser for St. Baldrick’s. The tenacious girl’s goal is $10,000 for the research that she knows could save kids like her.

“For a then-7-year-old to take her own diagnosis and turn it into something that can help others just really still amazes me every time I think about it,” Sarah said.

Help Sadie reach $10K — give to her fundraiser for childhood cancer research today.

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