About the Author
Lorna MacKinnon Day is an emerging writer who delights in discovering new perspectives for common experiences and beliefs. She began writing after her son was diagnosed with cancer at age 9 and passed away at age 15. Lorna writes with reflective observations through stories of love, loss, emotional darkness, and the risk of being hopeful. She now manages the Sam Day Foundation (SDF) in her son’s memory. SDF’s focus is to advance childhood cancer research while creating a community where families feel less alone and more equipped to care for their kids. She continues to find strength in grief and remains chronically and unapologetically hopeful.
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A Memoir of Grief, Courage, & Hope
At age 9, Lorna MacKinnon Day’s son Sam, reported a sore leg on a family outing. This fateful moment eventually led to a diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma, childhood bone cancer. The years that followed were punctuated with the acute struggle of living with Sam’s aggressive cancer and navigating the convoluted world of treatment, research, and the often opaque American medical system. Day tells the story of facing the profound task of being Sam’s caregiver, his advocate, and his mother all while navigating her own mounting grief. Day’s memoir is both a work of love and one of courage as she embraces the hardest moments of Sam’s life and those grief-stricken days that follow. This is a story of hope, of unwavering love, and the uncommon bravery found within.
Advocacy
In addition to writing and speaking, Lorna worked with other people who loved Sam to found the Sam Day Foundation, a nonprofit organization, in 2018.
SDF advances research on childhood sarcomas and brain tumors with the best potential to transform treatment and radically improve outcomes. Since the Sam Day Foundation launched in 2018, more than $2.7 million has been committed to research and multiple projects continue to be vetted for additional funding.
