At 11:30 pm, Samuell Bueno got the call he’d been dreading.

The UBC Okanagan student had spent days convincing himself the tests would come back clear. He was young, healthy and in the gym almost every day.

The doctor got straight to the point.

“You have cancer,” he said. Surgery would need to happen that weekend.

“I kept thinking, ‘Someone as healthy as this can never have cancer,'” he recalls. “Looking back, I think I was just trying to cope with my fears.”

That night, he called his parents in Brazil. Together, they made the difficult decision that he would return home for treatment. Just days later, instead of preparing for final exams, Samuell was undergoing surgery. He believed that would be the end of it—until doctors told him the cancer had spread and months of chemotherapy still lay ahead.

“The second day of chemo was when it really hit me,” he says. “Everything hurt. I remember asking my dad if there wasn’t another way.”

Today, Samuell is back at UBC Okanagan with a perspective few students acquire so early in life. Cancer didn’t diminish his ambition—it transformed it.

“When I came back, I wanted to prove to myself that chemo hadn’t made me any less capable,” he says. “But over time I stopped putting so much pressure on myself. I still work hard, but now I actually enjoy learning. I’m more excited about school, work and everything that lies ahead. In a way, that’s a gift cancer gave me.”

The UBC and donor community gave Samuell another gift: the encouragement, support and recognition he needed to continue his studies after experiencing what no student should ever face.

Originally from Niterói, Brazil, Samuell attended a Canadian-curriculum high school near home before choosing UBC Okanagan to major in management and minor in computer science. Drawn by the university’s strong programs and inspired by a family immersed in finance, he quickly found a community on campus that made Kelowna feel like a second home. And that community came together to help him when he needed it most.

When illness forced him to leave UBC just days before final exams, his advisor stepped in to coordinate with his instructors and arrange his leave. Her reassurance that everything would be taken care of allowed Samuell to focus on what mattered most—his treatment. Months later, she helped make his return just as seamless.

That same sense of support continued when Samuell returned to campus. Through donor-funded awards, he received not only financial assistance but also the encouragement to keep moving forward toward his academic and career goals.

One of those awards was the Dave McAnerney Memorial Award, funded by the Stober Foundation in honour of Dave’s legacy as a business leader, mentor and role model. The award recognizes upper-year Management students who demonstrate academic achievement and a commitment to supporting others.

For Samuell, that commitment has long been a guiding value. In Brazil, he tutored younger students in mathematics and, in Grade 9, organized a school food drive for INCA, Brazil’s public cancer institute. After his own cancer experience, the project took on even greater meaning. At UBC Okanagan, he continues to support others by tutoring classmates and helping fellow Brazilian students feel welcome and supported.

“Of course, the financial support matters,” he says. “But it also tells you that someone sees your effort, that it matters, and that they believe in you.”

That recognition—along with a clean bill of health—motivates Samuell to make the most of the opportunities he’s been given. He adds: “The best way I can show respect to everyone who has helped me is to do my very best.”

That outlook extends beyond graduation. Samuell hopes to pursue a master’s degree and, one day, support future students in the same way donors have supported him.

“If I have the opportunity, I’d love to give back,” he says. “Education changes lives. I hope one day I can help someone else build their life the way donors helped me.”