1 of 20

Sam Eldridge is making an inspiring impression on many people while battling leukemia, a bout of adversity the first grader at Oak Mountain Elementary School never thought he would face at such a young age. (Reporter photos/Tyler Raley)

By TYLER RALEY | Staff Writer

NORTH SHELBY – Driving down Cahaba Valley Road on a bright and sunny day on Sept. 30, Michael Eldridge sat in his car with his eyes on the road heading towards Oak Mountain Elementary School. With him were his wife, Sarah Beth, and his three kids: Sam, Ollie and Eli.

With a smile on his face, Sam sat in the back of the car with much anticipation; he was going back to his school to see his friends for the first time in a long time, a moment that was guaranteed to be filled with emotions.

Sam was in the middle of a long journey, having to do his school work from a distance and face unique circumstances while battling something no person ever wants to—cancer.

The plan for the morning was to head to the school, where Sam’s first grade class would be able to say hello and cheer him on as he and his family drove by the front of the school.

What Sam and Sarah Beth did not know, however, was that it was not just going to be the young warrior’s class standing there.

When Michael turned his family’s car off the road and into what is the car-rider line at OMES, he stopped the vehicle for a moment. Sam questioned with excitement, “Is the whole school outside?”

The crowd Sam and his parents were seeing out front was the entirety of the first grade student body, all happily cheering “We love Sam!” with signs in their hands and orange and yellow shirts on.

As they drove towards the school, Sam moved his way to the front to sit in his mom’s lap as they drove by the smiling students, and as they passed by, Sam and Sarah Beth waved out the window with wide smiles, seeing what was just a small sample of the number of supporters Sam has gained over the last several months.

The Eldridge family then parked the car and got out, allowing Sam to walk around and bask in the moment, smile still as wide as ever as he saw all of his friends jumping with joy and knowing their buddy was still doing well.

It was an ordinary day on the surface, but deeper down, it was a celebration for a young individual who has become a shining example of toughness in a period of adversity.

It’s only fitting that he was being nicknamed “Super Sam.”

THE LIFE-CHANGING MOMENTS

In late February 2025, a nanny sat at the Eldridge household helping to take care of Eli, who was just a few months old at the time. As was the routine, she was there when Sam came home from school, then in the latter half of his kindergarten year.

On an otherwise normal day, Sam came home running a fever, to which the nanny gave him Tylenol. But when Sam woke up the next day, the fever was still present.

“It was flu season, so they ran him for flu and all the stuff; everything came back negative,” said Michael Eldridge. “From that point forward, over the next three weeks, some days were better than others, but it was just like that fever would pop back up again, and high, like 104 (degrees).”

On Saturday, March 15, though, things really began to ramp up for the Eldridges with Sam’s health.

It was a day that, according to Michael, was the sickest Sam had looked in a while. So Michael loaded up the car, taking his son to Greenvale Pediatrics Hoover on Highway 150.

“We get to the doctor and they are coming to draw blood, which usually he would go bananas, and I remember he just put his arm out and they took the blood and he had no reaction,” Michael said. “(The doctor) sent everything off. They took so much blood that day; everything comes back to our doctor, it’s nothing.”

It was a time, though, when Sarah Beth learned something more serious might really be at their hands than they had thought, fighting her oldest child.

“(Our pediatrician) took bloodwork, and she got concerned,” Sarah Beth said. “She kind of pulled me aside and let Sam color outside the room and told me that she wanted to be straightforward with me and that she wanted to rule out leukemia, and when she said it, I thought, ‘There’s no way it’s leukemia, what do you mean?'”

Another week went by, and Sam’s condition continued to be in a weak state, so Michael and Sarah Beth took him to the emergency room for additional bloodwork. After being sent home on the first visit, they came back a second time a few days later, and were admitted for additional testing.

It was that second visit that presented them with one of the pieces of news they feared. On March 27, the Eldridges were told that Sam had been diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or B-ALL, a rare type of blood cancer that makes too many abnormal and immature B-cells called lymphoblasts.

“They told us when we got there that they’re going to do a bone marrow draw the next day,” Michael said. “I knew what that meant, I knew what they were looking for… We sat there all day, it felt like, and at like 7 o’clock at night… (the doctors) pull us into another room and I know what I’m about to watch, and they say, ‘Your son has acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia,’ a lot of big words, and my wife loses it.”

But as quickly as a diagnosis was made, the treatment began. The next day, Sam went through another bone marrow biopsy, had another surgery to receive his port, and started chemotherapy.

It was in those early stages that the journey had been the toughest, but almost immediately, little Sam Eldridge was becoming “Super Sam” before everyone’s eyes.

“It was just a whirlwind,” Sarah Beth said. “We got admitted, we were in the hospital almost a week… but Sam, he’s just been a fighter. A nurse, when we got admitted, once they diagnosed him, started calling him ‘Super Sam,’ and so one of the oncology nurses, that’s how he got that nickname, and it stuck, and he’s been so brave and so resilient. It’s really humbling to watch through the eyes of a child.”

The standard treatment for B-ALL lasts in the range of two to three years, so while the cancer is extremely curable in children, the road ahead is still long and arduous for Sam.

However, Sarah Beth is not hesitant to say how proud she is of her son for his fight and the interest he has in what he is dealing with.

“Sam, he is so smart and he is so full of life, like he asks questions about leukemia, like sometimes hard questions,” Sarah Beth said. “He’s so smart and he loves to learn, so it’s fascinating to watch… He wants to know what’s going on; he wants to watch it. It’s really fascinating.”

It has been a treatment that has seen Sam endure many different forms of chemotherapy to help fight off the cancer, but that has not been the only battle he has had to face.

LEARNING FROM AFAR

Since the moment Sam was diagnosed with B-ALL, a lot has gone through his family’s mind, including the thought of his educational journey.

“The first question I asked is, ‘Can he go back to school next week?'” Michael said. “He loves school, and looking back, it’s such a dumb question because they were like, ‘No, not even close. It’s going to be a long time.'”

Since his diagnosis as a kindergartener, Sam has not been able to return to the classroom, which has been a challenge in itself, as he is a kid who, his parents say, loves being at school, learning and being with his friends.

“I think the hardest part for him is the communication being gone and the interaction being gone,” Michael said. “When you’re a kid, the part of school that’s fun is that you’re with your friends, it’s not the schoolwork. Not being able to do those things… you can just see in his eyes, it’s like ‘I’m missing out. I want that part to be over.'”

Sam is now in first grade and completing all of his assignments. However, he’s had to do this from a distance.

Sam’s first grade teacher, Shannon Mills, has taken the situation on with a bulk of positivity, and when she learned that he was in her class, she knew how much of an honor it was going to be to help him through this journey.

“What a blessing to be able to be a part of his life and to be a part of this and to be able to do FaceTime with him so he can listen to me tell a story to the class,” Mills said. “The first thing was, ‘What can we do to help him love learning and what can we do to be a part of his life to make this journey be a little bit easier on him and his family?'”

It did not take long for Michael and Sarah Beth to notice the efforts that Mills was making in order to help their son, something that has stuck with them with Sam not being able to be in the classroom due to his body being immunocompromised.

“(Mills has) been amazing,” Sarah Beth said. “Even before school started, she contacted us about bringing him up there just by himself to meet the teacher, to meet her, and so we took Sam and met Miss Mills and he got to see his classroom and there were no other students.”

The experience has been received the same way with OMES as a whole, as the school sends a teacher over two times a week to help Sam with assignments. Sam also has an occupational therapist come over once every two weeks to help him with writing and other things due to the effects that some of his medication has on him.

Despite the challenges and some slight fear of him falling behind in some areas, the Eldridges have not hesitated to commend the school for coming together to help Sam out in trying to make a tough set of circumstances a little bit easier.

“Oak Mountain has been great with all of those services,” Sarah Beth said. “The school’s been great and they’ve done what they can to include him and to let him know that they’re thinking about him.”

SAM’S SURPRISE

Seeing and hearing all of the support that they have gotten over the months since Sam’s diagnosis, the Eldridges have been overcome with joy through much of the adversity they have faced. That feeling was taken to a new level, though, when the family made the drive out to OMES for Sam to see his class and teacher.

The school, however, had something much bigger in store.

“We thought it was just going to be his class, like his immediate class, Miss Mills. We had no idea that the whole school was going to wear orange and gold and the whole first grade would be out there to wave,” Sarah Beth said. “It just melted my heart, really. I mean, I cried… It was amazing to see all those kids.”

It has not just been OMES that has poured out support, though. Sam continues to be constantly cheered on by other families, communities and even celebrities, all of whom stand in his corner and contribute to his battle in some form, both small and large.

“People have put out bows that are orange and yellow on their mailboxes for Sam and for other kids that have childhood cancer,” Sarah Beth said. “It’s been really wonderful to see Sam know that people are praying for him, like he’s said to me before, ‘Mommy, why, the people that we don’t know, know me?’ And I say, ‘Because baby, you’re inspiring to people because you’re so positive and strong and you’re going through something most kids will never even know or should know…’ I’m so proud of him.”

The drive-by waving celebration at OMES was not only a delightful surprise for Sam—it was also a chance for Michael and Sarah Beth to see a visual representation of the community support they had around them through this journey.

It was one of the answers to the many prayers they had made since March.

“There are so many days (on this journey) where you really do feel alone,” Michael said. “Then you forget that there’s so many people that are in your corner and thinking about you and that you’re not alone… To see all of those children and those teachers, it’s not even really taking the time out of their day; it’s that they even thought about him, that they needed to do this… It does so much for people.”

So while the journey is still long and there are still roughly two more years of treatment left, “Super Sam” will still be fighting in a super way, inspiring everyone in his corner for years to come.

More North Shelby

Locals secure All-State honors at cross-country state championship, Westminster boys finish second

Briarwood topples Leeds, advances to round 2 of 5A playoffs

Multiple Shelby County elementary and middle schools place top 50 in U.S. News & World Report rankings

Briarwood blasts past American Christian in road victory to open year