Expect Miracles Foundation Blog

In early 2021, Expect Miracles Foundation received a transformational gift from the estate of renowned songwriter Jack Lawrence. An inductee to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, he was perhaps best known for songs like “Beyond the Sea” and “Tenderly,” but was also a quiet philanthropist, and what makes this gift even more meaningful was his personal tie to The Samfund.

One of The Samfund’s founding Board members, Barry Seigerman (who is also my uncle), was Jack’s cousin. I never met Jack in person, but he was an early supporter of The Samfund.  His belief in our mission and dedication to helping those impacted by cancer were essential to our work.

Given his incredible generosity and charity, Expect Miracles Foundation has created a permanent named Samfund grant to honor his legacy. Each year, we will select several young adult cancer survivors to receive this grant, with preference given to applicants who are in or pursuing the arts. We know that Jack would have been delighted and humbled to help these young adult cancer survivors on the path to accomplishing their dreams.

—Samantha Watson, Founder of The Samfund

At last month's Expect Miracles in Manhattan event at Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City, Expect Miracles Foundation presented several awards to a few of its most dedicated supporters.

The Young Professionals Expect Miracles group (YPEM) is proud to announce the appointment of three new Vice Presidents for the Boston and New York teams!

Young adults have always been a unique segment of the cancer community. The obstacles they endure during and after cancer treatment are unique and specific to their age and life stage, and are still sorely under researched and underrepresented. Given our focus on the financial aftermath of young adult cancer, our team recently teamed up with Lauren V. Ghazal PhD, FNP-BC at the University of Michigan and Sheila J. Santacroce  PHD, RN, CPNP at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to examine the emergence of crowdfunding as a strategy for covering medical and other daily living expenses. Namely, we investigated the ways in which crowdfunding often causes and exacerbates stigma and magnifies feelings of shame, and questioned why it has become increasingly necessary, especially for cancer survivors.