Gift Stories

Riding a horse is a great way to get your mind off unpleasant things. And 8-year-old Gabriella has had a lot of unpleasant things happen to her in the last 10 months. While on vacation last year, her lymph nodes suddenly swelled up. A bunch of tests later, she was diagnosed. It was a blood…

Cancer has been part of Sarah’s life for as long as she can remember. When she was just four years old, she woke up one morning with a severe pain in her head. Scans showed a mass on her optic nerve. Surgery relieved the pressure, but could not remove the tumor. Sixteen months of intense chemotherapy…

For more than a year now, 11-year-old Lauren has been battling a rare form of brain cancer. Fifty-one weeks of chemotherapy, two months of radiation, and three surgeries have left her struggling with anxiety and panic attacks. Team Summer Kid Antonio, who has been fighting leukemia, met Lauren at the hospital clinic (on his very…

A year ago, Nicholas’ world got turned upside-down. He had been feeling really tired and rundown and did not know why. A blood test finally showed the reason: leukemia. Since then, things have not been easy for Nicholas. Along with chemotherapy, he also needed a bone marrow transplant. His little brother was his donor. The…

Twelve-year-old Hunter has been having a very hard time. Ever since he was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, his world has been turned upside down. It seems as if he’s spent more time in the hospital than out, alternating between nausea and boredom. There was not much Team Summer could do about…

Four-year-old Julia and three-year-old Addison have a lot in common. Both are battling cancer. Both have endured many trips to the hospital and struggled with difficult treatments like chemotherapy. Now they have something else in common. Something a lot more fun. They are Team Summer friends! They met in a play area in the hospital…

The intent of a Team Summer gift is to make a child’s cancer journey a little easier by distracting or entertaining the child. Sometimes that means a cool electronic device. Sometimes it’s a ride in a limo. Or a fashion photo shoot. But for three-year-old Addison, who is battling a brain tumor, it simply meant…

Up until last November, Maddie was a happy-go-lucky eighth grader. Her biggest problem was figuring out how to get her naturally-curly hair to stay straight! But then right after Thanksgiving, she developed a pain on the side of her left calf that just got worse with each passing day. It did not take doctors long…

After years of being told what to, where to go, what treatments he had to endure, Jack is finally in the driver’s seat! We met 7-year old Jack after a teacher at his school nominated him through the Team Summer website! Jack battled leukemia for three years – as long as he can remember, if…

As the fifth of  six children in her family, 11-year-old Hannah Cate has always been surrounded by a lot of love and support. But her life has not been easy. Not by a long shot. Born with Downs Syndrome, she was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia when she was just six years old….