Help Sawyer Beat Cancer, Resume College Studies and Career

Please Help Sawyer Beat Cancer and Resume his College Studies and Career.

Sawyer Bruzza-Oman is a 29-year-old young man. He is an excellent student, pursuing a major in Biochemistry at CSU Chico, California. Sawyer grew up in Chico, graduated from Pleasant Valley High School, and held two very responsible managerial jobs in food service before attending college. He has worked hard his whole life and has successfully put himself through college, without help, to this point. Not only that, but he has excelled at it. Sawyer spent two years as a supplemental instructor (SI) and teacher’s aide at Butte Community College where he graduated with a 3.80 GPA and an Associate’s Degree in Human and Behavioral Sciences. Now, he is a Senior at CSUC and currently has a 3.75 GPA. He also works on CSUC campus, as a chemist at the RAD Lab (Regenerative Agriculture Demonstration), collecting, preparing, and analyzing soil samples for the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), a Federal Program within the USDA. He could do so much with his education, knowledge, and intelligence, he is on a pathway potentially leading to a private sector career but his true passion is sharing his skills and knowledge with young and eager students as a teacher.

Less than three weeks ago he began to experience some uncomfortable and alarming symptoms, including coughing up blood. After the second biopsy surgery it has been determined that Sawyer has Mediastinal B-cell Lymphoma. Chemotherapy has started, just today (1/30/25). The treatments are likely to cause infertility. Sawyer feels strongly that he will someday want to be a father. Preparing for his future, he would like to store viable sperm in a bank but these costs are not normally covered by health insurance. The costs of storing the sperm are impossible for a working student and he only has a matter of weeks before the risks of fertility set in. Sawyer has other impending and immediate financial needs that a working student can never be prepared for. These include, other medical costs, housing, transportation, food, and all those day-to-day expenses that quickly deplete a student's savings and build up so quickly when one cannot work anymore. There is also likelihood that he will need to travel to UC San Francisco for additional, more specialized, and up-to-date treatments.

It is so shocking and alarming when someone who appears to be in peak health is suddenly diagnosed with a life endangering disease such as this. Sawyer is so very well-liked by his peers, his instructors, current and former employers, and everyone who encounters him. He is not only intelligent, but also kind, humble, generous in every way and very thoughtful. The combination of all these attributes in one person is rare, but Sawyer has them and more. This is the type of person we want to be teaching our young adults and raising children in our future generations.

Please find it in your heart to donate to Sawyer’s GoFundMe campaign, to him and his cause. He wants to give it back by supporting others in the future. Whether you can help considerably or only a small amount does not matter. Every amount helps. Thank you. We will update frequently to let everyone know how he is doing.