With heavy hearts we say goodbye to Summer Dale who passed away last Sunday. We were honored to be part of her story.
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Summer Dale seems like your average teen: she attends high school, loves animals, and her favorite hobbies are photography, modeling, and horseback riding. But what’s not average about her: she’s a world-changer. One of the most brave and insightful young women you may ever meet.

In October 2011, a persistent pain led to an MRI which revealed a rare cancerous tumor on Summer’s pelvic bone. So rare in fact, that it doesn’t even have a name. Closely resembling an epithelioid sarcoma, her doctors call it “Summer’s Tumor.” You know you’re important when they start naming tumors after you. But that’s not even the most important thing about her.

Wanting to help other kids just like her cope with the difficulties of having the disease, Summer started Team Summer. Realizing the impact kids with cancer could have on each other’s lives, Team Summer raises money and donates it directly to other kids with cancer, to let them know they’re in this together.

After finding out that Summer was a supporter of Invisible Children, we got the chance to speak with her and her mom, Lynne.

Invisible Children (IC): We were so inspired after learning about you and your organization,Team Summer. Why do you feel it’s important for young people to get involved (be it with Team Summer, with Invisible Children, in their community, etc)?
Summer Dale (SD): Teenagers can be very self-involved, to put it nicely. We all fall into the trap of thinking only about ourselves. When you get involved with organizations that help people, it gets you outside yourself. And let’s face it, the world we are helping is the world we live in. Might as well make it better.

IC: How did you first see/hear about Kony 2012 & Invisible Children?
SD: My stepmom has been a big supporter of IC, and then IC came to our high school and gave a big presentation about your organization and they screened your film “25.” I was really moved. I heard about Kony 2012 when my twin brother, Jordan, showed it to me the night it was released.

IC: Lynne, what were some of your initial feelings after your daughter brought this issue/film to your attention?
Lynne Dale (LD): As a parent, I know what it’s like to have your child’s life in jeopardy, and it’s one of the worst feelings in the world. But at least I know where she is, and I can be there to help her. I can’t imagine what the parents of the Invisible Children suffer having their children taken from them. And now, knowing the intense suffering of the children themselves, how can we not do whatever we can to help them? I’m fighting hard for my daughter’s life, and I want to fight hard for their lives, too.

IC: Can you tell me more about Team Summer in your own words?
SD: As a child with cancer, I know how hard it is. Your entire life is turned upside down. You can’t go to school, you can’t hang out with your friends, you lose all your hair, and you feel sick a lot. I find that the only people who could really understand what I was going through was another kid with cancer. The mission of Team Summer is to make a way for kids to reach out to other kids for help and support. My goal is that any kid who gets diagnosed with cancer will have an immediate network of friends with cancer to lean on, especially in the beginning when things are so scary. You really need another kid you can talk to.

To find out more or donate to Team Summer, visit their website.

(Photo Credit: RichterKessing Photography)