17/10/2025
Iāve had a few people ask me to make this a post so they can share it. So here goes. Thank you for all the generosity and beautiful messages so far. Keeping the hope alive and ready to fight šš»
Dear clients, friends and, followers,
This isnāt an easy thing to write and share on this page. I mostly try and keep this page work based with a little personal insight from time to time. However the time has come to put the uncomfortable feeling aside for my sons sake.
Many of you who have been here a while or who know me personally will know that my son Hugo has been battling cancer this year for the second time. For those that donāt, Hugo was first diagnosed with stage 4 Alveolar Rhabdomyosarcoma, a rare and aggressive childhood cancer, in January 2024. After an intensive 6 months of chemo and radiation he was showing no signs of cancer by August 2024. This was unfortunately short lived, and whilst on maintenance chemotherapy he relapsed in March this year and put on new intensive chemotherapy treatment. We were devastated to find out a few weeks ago that this treatment is not working and our options in NZ are running out (we have been told there are no curative treatments left).
Hugo has been accepted onto a promising clinical trial for Car-T cell therapy in America that could be his only chance at growing up and living a normal life. Unfortunately this trial comes at a huge cost and we are needing to raise money ASAP to get him there while he is physically well enough to travel so time is running out.
This is incredibly difficult for me to write and share, I literally feel sick in my stomach posting this. But I hope you understand why I need to share this in every place possible.
If you have the means to spare anything Iāll pop the link below and we would be eternally grateful however please only if you are in a position to do so.
Much love,
Sam
Please know: I am still taking on a handful of shoots each month in case anyone is wanting to reach out to book, please donāt feel any hesitation in that respect. I absolutely love my work, itās great to have another focus and in all honesty I need to keep working to pay bills too ā¤ļø
https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/the-donaldsons-continue-to-fight
Image by š„¹
