Before we tell you about this new Team Summer gift – which is WAY cool! – we wanted to give you an update on where we are with our Annual Matching Challenge. As you might recall, an awesome group of donors (listed below!) put together a matching pool of $20,000. That means every dollar donated between now and the end of the year will be matched 100%, up to $20,000! And with 12 days left in 2024, we are getting closer and closer to our goal, currently 3/4 of the way there!
Every dollar we raise goes towards helping kids with cancer…kids like Hatcher and Spencer.
Remember Hatcher? He was the first Team Summer kid in Alaska!
The day he became a Team Summer kid, he knew exactly who his first nomination would be – 11-year old Spencer, all the way down in Oregon.
In August of 2023, Spencer and his family moved across the country from Ohio to Oregon. Spencer was a happy, social kid with a lot of interests. He loved playing basketball and video games, practicing the guitar, and hanging out with friends.
About a month into his new routine in Oregon, Spencer started not feeling well. For more than a month, Spencer was in and out of doctors’ offices, getting all kinds of tests to figure out what was wrong with him. When they finally got the answer, it was not good news. Spencer had cancer: leukemia. And the disease had caused masses to form in his lungs that were dangerously close to fully blocking his airways. Spencer spent the next week in intensive care. Once they got his breathing stabilized, his chemo treatments started immediately. Spencer didn’t get to leave the hospital for more than a month.
Spencer’s ongoing chemotherapy has taken a toll on his joints, making it hard for him to walk — let alone play basketball. The loss of his hair and having to homeschool just added to his challenges. And because his family had only recently moved to Oregon, Spencer didn’t have the chance to make a bunch of friends before he got sick. All of this left Spencer feeling pretty lonely and isolated.
That is, until Spencer met Team Summer kid Hatcher! Hatcher and Spencer’s moms met in an online support group and introduced the boys over the phone. They immediately hit it off. They were both the same age, both had leukemia, they were diagnosed within a month of each other, and they were both on the same treatment schedule. The boys – one living in Oregon and the other in Alaska – got to know each other online playing video games and talking about everything BUT cancer!
When Hatcher became a Team Summer kid, he knew he wanted to surprise Spencer by nominating him to become a Team Summer kid, too! After some plotting and planning, the big day finally came, and Hatcher and Spencer got on a Zoom call. Spencer did not know what was going on, but he was glad to see his friend!
Hatcher had the perfect gift picked out for Spencer. Hatcher knew Spencer loved art and loved to draw. And he wanted Spencer’s Team Summer gift to be something he could always keep close by. Before we tell you what the gift was, take a look at Spencer’s reaction when he opened it!
It was an iPad with a special drawing pencil! Now Spencer can draw, sketch, and animate anywhere, even in the hospital during treatment. Way to go Hatcher!!
For those of you who are counting, Oregon makes 31 states in which Team Summer kids have given gifts! Your generosity makes all this possible, and the success of our Annual Matching Challenge will directly impact how many kids with cancer Team Summer can help in 2025!
On behalf of my beautiful daughter, Summer, whose vision, compassion, and empathy started all this, thank you in advance for helping to fund this very important mission!
Much love,
Lynne Dale
President
Team Summer
*This is the remarkable group of Team Summer supporters whose generosity created our Challenge Fund. I am grateful beyond words!
Gold Level Donors
Cathi and Chad Morriss
Individual Donors
Jennifer Barnes
Holly and George Batchelor
Elizabeth and Frank Blake
Tracy Carusi
Jan and Avery DeLong
Melissa Demetrops
Robert and Janet Dobson
Scott Levere
John Loving
Liza and Derrick McSwain
Jeri Moran and Shaun Rawls
Nancy Neufer
Jeff and Betsy Sherry
Corporate Donors
HawkPartners
Specialty Center for Periodontics and Dental Implants
Team Summer, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. All contributions are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
