Cancer Warrior, Summer Worthington

About Fourth & Gold

Founded by Erin, Fourth & Gold officially became a 5013C non-profit organization in July 2022. Much of the team is lead by healthcare professionals that are on the frontlines of oncological practice, helping children and their families battle cancer everyday.

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Each week, Fourth and Gold will highlight a cancer warrior that has bravely and fiercely stood strong against childhood cancer. At Fourth and Gold, we want you to see the faces behind our drive and connect with them in a way you wouldn’t have been able to if you didn’t take the stand to demand #MoreThan4! Our precious kids have cancer, but cancer is not who they are.

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Week of April 21, 2018

Summer Worthington, diagnosed with stage Acute Myeloid Leukemia with RAM (an extremely rare phenotype) at 2 years of age

Current age: 3 (DOB 4/19/15)

Favorite Things: Summer loves many things, but sitting still is not one of them! She adores reading books, playing with stickers, being outside in the beautiful weather and dancing like nobody is watching!

Favorite Foods: Macaroni and cheese…. macaroni and cheese… macaroni and cheese.. 😉

If you know Summer, you know that she: Has the most beautiful, lasting smile that can change your day in an instant. Despite all she’s been through, she always seems to be happy. 

What you cannot see here is that Summer:

  • Has undergone anesthesia and sedation countless times
  • Too many needle sticks to count
  • Several rounds of chemotherapy
  • NG tubes in her nose
  • Being on a ventilator
  • Missing out on being a toddler

Summer’s mom on what she wishes people understood about childhood cancer: “Childhood cancer is underfunded and NOT RARE”

Hardest part of having a child with cancer: “Helplessness. Helplessly watching them miss out on childhood and helplessly watching them in pain.”

Biggest change since Summer’s diagnosis: “Life. We have been home a total of 18 days since Thanksgiving.”
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Although Summer’s story is unique and personal to her, her story is very similar to thousands and thousands of children all over. As Summer’s mom mentioned, childhood cancer is not rare. But what it is, is underfunded. Childhood cancer research gets a whopping 4% of all research funds by the government. F-O-U-R. What can you do with 4% of a dollar? Almost nothing. It’s wrong. It’s cruel. It’s unjust. Summer and every other child out there deserves more than 4%.
We write about Summer and other precious children because we want you to connect to them. We want you to see the harsh reality they face every single day. We want you to see them on their good days, but also know there can be many bad days. We want your heart to connect to childhood cancer awareness so that together, we can change the world and get these kids much more than 4%. 
*Summer turned 3 on April 19th, so we encourage you to look up three facts about childhood cancer and share them with a friend.
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#MoreThan4 #NotRare
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