Skip to content
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Menu
  • Happy Health
  • Happy Mindset
  • Animal Wonders
  • About Us
    • Team
  • Subscribe
Happy News

Diagnosed At 11 And He’s CHANGING Cancer Research

Sam Taylor was just 11 years old when he went to the emergency room for an MRI and received a devastating diagnosis: a low grade optic glioma, a brain tumor in the optic pathway that accounts for only five percent of all childhood brain tumors. The surgeon initially planned to remove the tumor, but once they went in they realized it sat right behind his optic nerve, meaning removal could cause permanent blindness and the tumor was declared inoperable. Taylor spent his entire high school experience unable to play contact sports like football and lacrosse because of the tube in his head, a constant reminder that he wasn’t like every other teenager despite trying to live a fairly normal life. When his treatment caused two severe allergic reactions that could have been fatal, doctors stopped his treatment plan abruptly and decided to monitor the tumor instead, hoping it would stop growing when he reached his twenties.

Unfortunately, the tumor has not stopped growing like doctors predicted, and now at 22 years old Taylor faces the mental battle of living with an inoperable brain tumor while also making incredible changes in his community. As a family, the Taylors decided right after diagnosis that they wanted to do something to help other families traumatized by a cancer diagnosis, founding the nonprofit Strong4Sam that has now raised nearly 1.2 million dollars for childhood cancer research. The remarkable part is that the money doesn’t go toward research for Taylor’s own diagnosis but instead supports people with more severe tumors and cancers that are less researched and harder to cure, focusing on finding new, less toxic types of treatment. Taylor recently started sharing his health journey on TikTok to help even more people, admitting that the mental battle at 22 has been astronomical compared to being 11, but his mission to change cancer research continues to inspire and save lives.

PrevPreviousShe Couldn’t Invite Them All So They Brought Wedding To HER
NextThis Drug Enters Cancer Cells 12.5x Faster With NO Side EffectsNext

Recent Articles

Happy News

The Genius Way Wimbledon Saves Mice Every Year

December 19, 2025

When park ranger Dale Osborne noticed that torrential rain was constantly flooding the plains of Watermead Country Park North in Leicestershire, England, he watched helplessly as local harvest mice lost their nests and found himself picking up mice swimming around in the water to place them on dry land. In

Read More
Happy News

World’s First Magical Seahorse National Park

December 19, 2025

Eleuthera, a skinny 110 mile long island located 70 miles east of Nassau, bears an uncanny resemblance to a seahorse when viewed from above, making it the perfect location for the world’s first seahorse national park at Sweetings Pond and Hatchet Bay Caves. The new 548 acre park protects Sweetings

Read More
Happy News

Prehistoric Discovery Proves Manatees Are Ocean Heroes

December 19, 2025

Nicholas Pyenson, curator of fossil marine mammals at the National Museum of Natural History, co-authored groundbreaking research that reveals a treasure trove of fossils uncovered in southwestern Qatar, proving that anateesm have been protecting ocean ecosystems for tens of millions of years. The team discovered a distant relative of modern

Read More
« Previous Next »
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Privacy Notice
  • Accessibility Notice
  • Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information
  • Unsubscribe
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
Copyright © 2025 HappyNews.