ACM New Female Vocalist of the Year Lauren Alaina revealed that her stepfather, Sam Ramker, has been battling cancer since March.
In a post on Instagram, Lauren noted that Sam “is fighting harder than I thought was possible. He is the strongest person I know. Cancer doesn’t discriminate. It doesn’t care if you’re two or 80 years old. It doesn’t care if you’re a perfectly healthy 47 year old step-father, husband, and grandfather who eats healthily and runs 6 miles a day. It can happen to anyone. To the families and people who have been affected by this horrible disease or any disease, my family has felt the pain you’ve felt for the last four months. We are praying for you. We love you, and we are so thankful for all of the love coming our way.”
According to Sam’s GoFundMe page, which has raised more than $11,000, “he was diagnosed with Stage 4 melanoma on March 19. The cancer was first found on his liver on March 7, which led to more testing. He then had a MRI of the liver to confirm findings, which led to a biopsy. After discovering it was definitely melanoma, he went for a MRI of the brain on Easter Sunday. MRI of brain was normal. The next day he went for a PET scan for staging of the cancer. The PET scan showed cancer was in the liver, lungs, pelvis, sciatica, lumbar spine and thoracic spine. Due to the cancer it has caused four fractures in his pelvis and multiple fractures to the spine. He started immunotherapy on April 5, which created many side effects in the beginning. He ended up spending three weeks in the hospital. In this time, Sam lost over 30 pounds and while in the hospital he had another CT scan which they found a new tumor on his heart on the left side around the valve entering your heart. They wanted to do surgery but after talking it over with multiple doctors, it was decided it was too risky at this time to remove because that would cause treatment to be delayed for at least six weeks. They decided to go with plan B, which included Sam taking radiation. His treatments are at the Vanderbilt University in Nashville Tennessee, which is quite a distance away from their home.”
Lauren also noted that the photo in her Instagram post was selected because of how happy the ACM win made her stepfather.
