Cook Children's Nurse Manager Samantha Harris Nominated for Woman of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
“As a leukemia survivor and pediatric oncology nurse here at Cook Children’s, this fundraiser is close to my heart, and I feel that I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to help others,” she said.
Samantha Harris, a nurse manager of the Hematology-Oncology Center at Cook Children’s Medical Center, has been nominated as a candidate for Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Woman of the Year.
“As a leukemia survivor and pediatric oncology nurse here at Cook Children’s, this fundraiser is close to my heart, and I feel that I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to help others,” Harris said.
The Man & Woman of the Year program is a philanthropic competition among a group of motivated and dedicated individuals in communities across the United States driven to support blood cancer research.
To participate, candidates form fundraising teams and compete in honor of two local children who are blood cancer survivors. The man and woman who raise the most funds during the campaign will be awarded the title of Man or Woman of the Year.
Harris is one of 11 nominees from Tarrant County, and her 10-week campaign runs through June 10, 2022. To support Harris and donate to the cause, visit her campaign website.
In August 1993, when she was 4 years old, Harris was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. After three years of intense treatment at Cook Children’s, she returned home cancer-free and ready to pursue a new dream: to become a nurse.
She went on to graduate from Tarleton State University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and became a registered nurse. She now serves as a nurse manager of the same unit at Cook Children’s that treated her when she was a child.
Harris says she is excited to participate in the fundraising competition because she hopes to benefit families who are going through experiences similar to those her family faced.
“I love the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s mission because the organization is not solely dedicated to finding new drugs,” she said. “They support families throughout their journeys in many different ways.”
The funds raised through the Man & Woman of the Year are used for continuing research of lifesaving therapies, educating and supporting patients and families, and driving policies that increase the development of and access to new treatments.
Go here to Harris's campaign website to learn more.
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