Help Emily Somers Fight Aggressive Stage 4 Cancer

In July 2023, our dear friend Emily woke up with severe back pain out of the blue. Initially, Emily assumed that she had simply strained a muscle while exercising. When the pain worsened, she went to the ER. Instead of relief, however, she was met with a diagnosis that she never could have expected as a young, health-conscious, non-smoker: cancer in her lungs.

This diagnosis flipped the world upside down for Emily and Geordie, her loving and supportive husband and partner of ten years. Instead of attending film festivals for the movie Emily had recently finished writing, producing, and starring in, Emily embarked on a grueling journey of chemotherapy, immunotherapy, a major surgery to remove a lobe of her lung, and radiation therapy. Her team of doctors has discovered that she has an extremely rare and aggressive cancer called NUT midline carcinoma. This diagnosis necessitated more chemotherapy than initially assumed, but Emily kept her positive attitude and focused on what she could control: diet and exercise. She initially appeared to have a good response and she had hoped to be declared cancer free at the end of February 2024. Unfortunately, her most recent scans showed that the disease has now metastasized and is Stage 4.

Immediately following discovery of the metastases, Emily was enrolled on a clinical trial with another, more aggressive chemotherapy regimen. Her doctors are hopeful and believe in this trial, but this represents yet another challenge in an over 8-month journey that has been hell for Emily, Geordie, and their families. They have coped privately with the devastation of this diagnosis and painful uncertainty about the path forward. As anyone who has dealt with cancer knows, the medical bills are staggering. After months of powering through, Geordie and Emily will now need to take significant time off work to focus on Emily’s health. We would like to help them do this without financial strain.

Emily and her family have a tough fight ahead of them, and at this time, the most helpful way to show your love and support is through a donation (no amount is too small). Your donation will go toward the following expenses for Emily, Geordie, and their dog, Felix:

If you’ve ever met Emily, you remember her - she makes an impression. She is clever, confident, witty, and kind. Those of us who are lucky enough to be her close friends also know that she is loyal and honest, and works incredibly hard to achieve her goals. She has brought that same tenacity to her battle with cancer, and we hope you will help us support her.

*If you would prefer to help via a cooked meal, please reach out to Geordie for their Meal Train webpage.