Megan Simandl was 19 when her body began to fail her. Unexplained bruises, bleeding gums, fatigue that would not go away no matter what. Test results sent her straight to the emergency room in Tampa, Florida. The diagnosis: acute promyelocytic leukemia, a rare and aggressive cancer.
During 37 days in the hospital and eight more months of outpatient treatment, Megan continued working as a waitress at Carmelo’s Italian Restaurant in Punta Gorda. She would leave chemotherapy, change clothes, and go to work. Her bosses, Steve Brown, John Milone, and the owner, Carmelo Mangiafico, covered her shifts, looked after her, and even raised $10,000 among the entire team to support her.
On December 30, 2024, after ringing the bell that marks the end of treatment, Megan arrived at the restaurant and found a reserved table with flowers, gifts, and a special cake. Carmelo paid for the entire dinner and gave a speech in her honor that she recorded and uploaded to TikTok: it surpassed one million views. Today, at 21, Megan is a pediatric nurse and never stops saying that being alive, after everything she went through, is the greatest miracle that could have happened to her.
@kittykyo wow I’m crying #canversurvivor #cancerawareness #leukemiawarrior #foryou ♬ original sound – ᴀsʜᴇʀ ღ ᴊᴀᴋᴇ