Sam T.Follow

My name is Sam Tinaglia and I am 10 years old. I am in 4th grade at
Field School in Park Ridge, Illinois. I have a 7 year old brother
named Daniel and a 4 year old sister named Anna. My parents are Sam
and Suzie. We have 2 dogs - Coco and Cammy and I love sports
especially basketball and baseball! I love to play baseball in the
backyard with my neighbors and every day at school I play football or
basketball with my friends. I'm having fun watching NBA basketball
games on TV and am really looking forward to baseball season - I'm a
huge Cubs fan!! I was diagnosed with ALL leukemia when I was 5 and
had 3 years of chemo which made it go into remission. But now it
relapsed in April, 2008 and I have started another 3 year long chemo
treatment to keep it from coming back. I'm in remission now and have
been feeling pretty good since the beginning, but I have endured many
weeks of hard chemo given by pills, IV and spinal taps. I even had 2
surgeries and spent over 50 nights in the hospital over the past 9
months. I just started a lower-dose phase of treatment called
Maintenance, which lasts another 2 1/2 years. I will only have to go
to the clinic for chemo every 3 weeks to get IV chemo and will take
pills. My hair will grow back and I will start to feel healthier and
stronger soon. I'm tough and I know I can get through it again!