Sam has a favor to ask....

This is Sam and he has a favor to ask...

Sam is my boyfriend. He is an awesome boyfriend...

(If you just want to know the favor, scroll down to the end. Otherwise, enjoy the backstory...)

Here is a slightly better picture of Sam. Doesn't he look good in a suit?

Sam is a Computer Science major and he LOVES Imgur. He is constantly sending me little links and has totally gotten me addicted to the site.

Here's Sam and I with the Mystery Machine and Scooby. We're a very fun-loving couple. We love to laugh.

As you can see, he is quite a jokester... (we were at the San Diego Zoo)

And he loves to have a good time.... (this time we went to Busch Gardens for Howl-O-Scream)

Then something bad happened...

Sam was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer at age 21.

For those of you who don't know what your Thyroid is or what it does, I've included a handle little picture. It's a butterfly shaped gland that sits in your throat overlaying your esophagus (food tube) and trachea (air tube).

It's main function is to control how your body uses energy. Without it, you feel tired and sluggish and disorders of the Thyroid can cause you to gain/lose weight and to lose hair.

Through it all, Sam has handled it like a pro. Even though it is unfathomable to most to face cancer at such a young age, Sam has slapped a smile on his face and dealt with it. As a matter of fact, he was more upset over the fact that his surgery would prevent him from taking prom pictures with my sister, than the fact that he needed surgery...

He was told that he was going to need at least one surgery and that he had some very large tumors (for anyone in the medical field, his largest tumor was 5.7 x 6.5 x 3.5 cm).

This is Sam only a couple hours after his first surgery. As you can see, he has a fantastic attitude. He was literally 3-4 hours post-op here and he's already smiling.

For those of you not medical, here is an explanation of what is going on in this picture:

He has an 11 inch incision on his neck (which you largely can't see here because it is on the other side) and the long tubes (sorry for the blood) are four drains that were inserted into his neck. The patches on the chest are electrodes to a cardiac monitor they had him on.

This photo is 2-3 weeks post-op. As you can see here, the scar is healing beautifully. His caption on Facebook was "Sexy as Ever".

Still smiling! :)

This is two months post-op. The scar has healed even more and he is starting to forget that it is there.

This is several months after surgery. Here, we went out for our belated one year anniversary. As you can see, his scar has faded quite a bit.

It was around this time that we heard that Sam was going to need a second surgery. :( Bummer.

I bought him Paul & Storm tickets to cheer him up - bonus - Wil Wheaton was there too!

Sam wrote an email to them about how much he enjoyed the show and about his surgery. They wrote back and made his day! :)

This is Sam last night. He had to prep for surgery today (12/16) and that involved shaving off part of that majestic beard...

Here he is sans beard with his new goatee! He definitely doesn't like the goatee as much as the beard, but it makes him happy.

Sam is currently in surgery right now and I am worried sick. As a Nursing student, I know that what they are doing is saving his life, but as his girlfriend... Well it sucks.

Anyway, Sam has a favor to ask. He told me that it would totally make his day if he wakes up from anesthesia today to find that he has made it to the front page.

I told him that I would do the best I could, but that I couldn't make any promises. Imgurians, please help me out! I know that it may not seem like much, but to a 22 year old (his birthday was December 4th) fighting cancer, the front page of Imgur is a huge deal!

In closing, here is a picture of Sam's cat Felix. I thought that that might sway some of you.

Please upvote and encourage your friends to. It would mean the world to Sam. I'm sure he will thank you with a followup post of his brand new scar.

By the way, he is taking suggestions for how he got it. It will stretch from ear to ear after this second surgery. So far, he's gotten mob hit, fought a crocodile, and a ninja attack. Ideas?

Thanks Imgurians! You're the best!

4:10 p.m. UPDATES FOR EVERYONE! :)
Sam came out of surgery with flying colors. He is currently sleeping next to me. He was SO EXCITED when he found out that he actually made it to the front page. Neither of us expected it to actually happen. Words cannot express the joy that you all have given him by your kind words and support. In response to all of the "wife her" comments, he says "Don't worry, I plan to..."

We also got some fantastic news. According to his doctor, they got every lymph node that looked suspicious which means that as of right now (as far as we're concerned) he is cancer free! :) I didn't clarify this earlier, but his first surgery was to take the whole thyroid and several lymph nodes; this second one was to take out additional lymph nodes that developed the cancer on the opposite side.

Hopefully he will be discharged tomorrow and he promises to follow up with a picture of the cool new scar that now stretches from one ear to the other. Stay awesome Imgurians. You are all amazing.