Shining star…. Caroline Springs local Sam Severino is hoping to raise awareness of blood cancer at the Leukaemia Foundations ‘Light the Night’ event this month. 69889 Picture: DAMJAN JANEVSKI
By Kara Irving
SAM Severino always looks on the bright side of life – even when he was battling cancer.
Diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma at 15 years old, the Caroline Springs resident said positivity is the best medicine.
“Life’s too short to worry about the small stuff,” he said. “Since I was diagnosed I’ve really come to appreciate how precious the gift of life is.”
While travelling overseas with his mum in 2001, Sam discovered a lump under his arm. After dismissing it as a cyst, he was shocked when doctors diagnosed him with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma—a cancer of the lymphoid tissue.
“I didn’t know too much about the disease at the time, but I knew it was a bad thing when I saw my mum crying,” he said.
Confined to a bed and undergoing chemotherapy for most of his senior school years, Sam missed out on a fair chunk of his teenage years.
After a three year battle, Sam entered remission in 2004. This is Sam’s seventh year in remission.
“It’s always in the back of your mind and I think about it every day. Even though I am clear, I still get paranoid about the cancer returning. It’s a disease that really plays on my mind,” he said.
In the coming weeks, the 26-year-old, along with a team of friends, will help raise awareness of the degenerative disease by taking part in the Leukaemia Foundation’s Light the Night appeal.
Light the Night encourages those who have been, or know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer, to hold a united front at Alexandra Gardens to raise awareness of blood cancers.
Participants can either light a gold ‘love light’ lantern to remember a loved one, a white ‘life light’ if they have beaten the disease or blue ‘hope light’ to show their support for others.
“This is my first year working with the Leukaemia Foundation, but I’d love to continue helping out in the future,” Sam said.
The Leukaemia Foundation’s Light the Night will be held on Wednesday 21 September from 5.30pm at Alexandra Gardens in Melbourne. For information visit www.lightthenight.org.au
