Samuel "Sam" Robert Caswell

Samuel Robert Caswell, 28, transitioned to the next life on Wednesday October 9, 2024 at Brigham and Women's Hospital­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ in Boston surrounded by his loving family.

He was born on July 5, 1996 in Melrose Massachusetts, the son of Keith and Heidi (Cheever) Caswell.

Born with a rare genetic disease, Sam lived a life of many tribulations from a very early age. Despite his lifelong battle, he persevered through over thirty surgeries, many lengthy hospital stays, and countless medical treatments. Because of his sister Jenna donating bone marrow when he was a year old, we got to keep him in our lives for 28 years. Although MPS greatly impacted every aspect of his life, he did not allow it to define him. What did define him was his strength, courage, and compassion for others. Sam was loving, smart, thoughtful, funny, and had such an engaging personality. We truly believe he touched every person that he ever met and made the world a better place. For such a little guy he is going to leave a huge hole in the lives of everyone who knew him. Although we are all painfully aware of the bright light that is missing from our lives, we know that light shines even brighter in heaven. We will grieve the loss of his physical presence in our lives, but celebrate him and the true inspiration he was every day for the rest of our lives. 

Sam was known as the "mayor" of Peter Woodbury Elementary School during his six years there. He attended McKelvie, and Ross Lurgio Middle School and graduated with honors from Bedford High School in 2014. He then went on to Manchester Community College where he earned his Associates Degree in English and received the Inspiration Award. He went on to earn his Bachelor's Degree in Communications at Southern New Hampshire University, where he was a member of Student Government and CAPE, (Coordinators of Activities and Programming Events). He loved hanging out in the commuter lounge with friends and going to the Pub where he could snack and talk with friends after CAPE meetings. He graduated summa cum laude and received the Outstanding Student Award for his major. He was one of the three finalists in the running to give the commencement speech at graduation and was honored to even be considered. He did have the opportunity to give that speech when he was chosen to speak at the Honors Convocation the night before graduation. He had received the Penman Pursuit Award for Outstanding Achievements in 2021. Southern New Hampshire University is where he thrived, and became such an intricate part of the college community. 

Sam was part of the Bedford Bobcats Special Olympic team during Jr. High and High School. The basketball skills program was his favorite and he mastered the dribbling competition winning many Gold Medals over the years, as well as learning a lot about inclusion. Sam shined as a motivational speaker for many years, but was just starting a career in it when his health got in the way. His speech was about resilience and keeping a positive attitude through any obstacles that came your way. Aside from motivational speaking, his biggest passion was movies. He knew every movie that was coming out for the next year, who directed it, and who he was planning to see it with. No one could ever come close to beating him at a movie trivia game because he truly knew it all. He wrote movie reviews for every movie that he saw and posted them to his social media accounts, encouraging all of his followers to go see them as well. Sam had very diverse taste in films, and could be seen reviewing everything from musicals to the Marvel movies. His writing was articulate and rich, and he was too kind to ever leave a truly scathing review. He was an avid reader and his amazon cart was always filled with new books that he intended to read. A few other accomplishments were his trips to Capitol Hill to meet with legislators to advocate for newborn screening. He was passionate about doing whatever he could to ensure that the next generation of MPS children would not have to go through all that he did. He also spoke at the board meeting the night that MPS1 was being voted on to be added to the newborn screening test in his state. One of his doctors asked him to speak at a class at Harvard Medical School to share about his disease and he engaged every student in the room for over an hour. No matter how serious a situation was, Sam was always able to add a bit of humor. We are going to have to take a page out of Sam's playbook to move forward.

Sam is predeceased by his grandparents Robert and Mignon Cheever and Kenneth and Jean Caswell, as well as his cousin Kayleigh Janes and his aunt Valerie Hartt Beaton.

Sam was the beloved and amazing son of Keith Caswell and Heidi (Cheever) Caswell, and the treasured brother of his sister Jenna Caswell.

He will also be deeply missed by his dog Leo, his aunt Gretchen and her husband Chuckie Cecere of Tewksbury, MA, his aunt Rebecca Cheever of Andover, MA, his aunt Kim and her husband Richard Pasquale of Andover, MA, his aunt Denise Caswell of Bedford, NH, his uncle Wayne and his wife Lynn Caswell of Cape Coral, FL, his uncle Mark and his wife Terri Caswell, his cousins CJ Hartt, Jeffrey Janes, Justine Bodek, Rachel Pasquale, Daniel Blandini, Alexandra Cecere, Olivia Cecere, Ella Hartt, and Maxine Bodek; as well as many friends who were like family. 

 SERVICES: Visitation will be from 4 pm to 8 pm on Tuesday, October 15th, 2024 at Phaneuf Funeral Home, 243 Hanover Street, Manchester, NH 03104. A celebration of life will be held at 2:30 pm on Sunday, November 10, 2024 at Southern New Hampshire University. Details will be updated on phaneuf.net. Family and friends are invited to attend.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make a memorial contribution to the MPS Society at mpssociety.org