Our Journey
Adam J. Singer, son of David & Karen, and older brother to Marc, left an impact on everyone who knew him from his family, friends, community in Jericho, NY, and his classmates at West Virginia University. On December 9, 2014, Adam passed away at the age of 24 after a two-and-a-half year battle with Synovial Sarcoma. Adam Singer will always be remembered and loved as the extraordinarily bright, outgoing, and caring person that he was.
It all started when Adam was a senior at West Virginia University and experienced foot pain that led to the surgical removal of what doctors initially identified as a cyst. His family will never forget the phone call they got five days later that changed their lives forever, when a doctor told them Adam had cancer. After another five days, doctors diagnosed Adam with synovial sarcoma. They began treatment but were extremely frustrated by the lack of options.
Adam, a former varsity baseball player with a magnetic personality, never gave up. After losing two toes and being told he may not run again, he continued to play basketball with his friends. The Singers even have a video of Adam racing his younger brother, Marc, in front of their house. “His competitive drive gave him the will to fight,” David says. “It made him a great role model for his brother, for me, and for Karen.”
Adam’s determination inspired his parents to start the Singer Strong Foundation in 2016. When the fundraising began the Singers struggled to find a specific researcher on synovial sarcoma, an extremely rare disease, but during a 2016 cancer fundraiser at Yankee Stadium, they met doctors who told them Dr. Kevin Jones. Dr. Jones who leads Huntsman Cancer Institute's Sarcoma Disease Center, treats synovial sarcoma patients, and runs an HCI lab where his research focuses on sarcomas in young people. For the Singers, it was a match. While it began by holding grassroots fundraisers at bowling alleys, baseball fields, and restaurants in and around their hometown of Long Island but continues to grow today in hope to continue to spread and become much larger to help Dr. Jones' find a cure to synovial sarcoma.
The significance
of the Blue Jay
Those of you that knew Adam, especially those who knew him from birth, were always taken aback by his sparking deep blue eyes. At Adam's funeral, there was a window behind the stage of the packed funeral home. During the services, a blue jay appeared at the window and most of the 600 people in attendance noticed. The grieving audience was overcome with the feeling that the blue jay was a representation of Adam (blue eyes with the middle name Jay). It appeared Adam was looking down on his own funeral and It was a very moving moment for all. The bluejay has therefore become a symbol that celebrates the life of Adam J. Singer.
