SAN ANTONIO — At 17 years old, Noah Adams was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. Adams' diagnosis led him to undergo ten months of chemotherapy at University Hospital in 2020.
After a necessary rotationplasty surgery, where he had to have his leg amputated, Adams is now in remission for the next five years.
"I just felt a need to give back and over the past year, year and a half that’s what we’ve been doing," said the San Antonio teen, now attending college in Pittsburgh.
With the help of his mom, Adams founded the Stay Strong Foundation the next year. Since becoming an organization they have held toy and Halloween costume drives for pediatric patients at University Hospital.
Saturday, the foundation held a blanket drive at Chicken N Pickle for kids and young adults currently hospitalized.
"I brought in my blanket to every treatment after I got that blanket and like I said it was just really helpful," said Adams. His mom, Debi Harper, said they have been working closely with her son's oncology team to determine the needs of hospital patients; blankets were on that list.
"We have a small list of what they need and we’re gonna work through them this year, that’s our goal," said Harper.
Adams' close friends Roman Contreras and Gael Anaya were also at Saturday's blanket drive organizing donations. The two have been friends with Adams since their freshman year of high school and were by his side as he went through treatment.
"Us being there, I feel like it helped him a lot," Contreras said.
Anaya and Contreras said they have always supported their friends foundation and it's efforts to help pediatric hospital patients.
"If it's important to him, it's important to us as well," Anaya said.
Chicken N Pickle also donated 10% of Saturday's proceeds to anyone who mentioned the blanket drive.
The Stay Strong Foundation plans to hold more donation drives in the future. You can keep track of them through their social media pages.