For 11 years Glen Caldwell was the Sam Malone of the Vineyard, bringing a touch of Cheers to the Offshore Ale Co. Behind the bar, Mr. Caldwell remembered everyone’s name, even those who hadn’t stopped by for a beer in years. And each year on St. Patrick’s Day he presided over a full day affair that started with an Irish breakfast and jammed long into the night.

Currently Mr. Caldwell works for Sysco Foods, but on Sunday, March 15, he will be back at Offshore presiding over another Irish breakfast, and festivities that will stretch through the whole day and evening. But this year the event is not about celebrating an annual holiday. It is a celebration of community and friends coming together to help Glen and his family address their daughter Samantha’s fight against brain cancer.

Jam for Sam, as the event is being called, was thought up by Phil and Colleen McAndrews, the owners of the Offshore Ale Co.

Samantha Caldwell is a voracious reader who plays the drums and loves her pets.

Courtesy Caldwell family

Samantha Caldwell is a voracious reader who plays the drums and loves her pets.

Courtesy Caldwell family

“Phil texted me after the surgery and the pathology report came back, saying I figured out a way I can help,” Glen said. “So we’re pulling the gang back together.”

One hundred per cent of all food profits on Sunday will be donated to the Caldwell family. There will also be a silent auction taking place at the Offshore General Store, just a few doors down from the restaurant. Breakfast begins at 8 a.m. on Sunday, lunch at 11:30, and dinner at 5 p.m.

Samantha Caldwell is a nine-year-old third grader at the Tisbury School. She’s a huge reader, or as Glen says, “she devours books.” She loves her pets — a dog named Nellie, a cat named Pepper and a couple of goldfish. She also plays the drums.

“She’s got the 2-4 rock beat down and the Bo Didley beat,” Glen said. “Usually I grab the electric guitar and rock with her.”

Earlier this winter Samantha began having some stomach issues with vomitting and headaches but no fever, which at first didn’t seem alarming but as the symptoms continued, Glen and his wife Anne decided to take her to the hospital to check it out. As they were preparing to leave for the hospital, Samantha had a seizure and then another one when they reached the hospital. She was immediately helicoptered off the Island to Children’s Hospital in Boston. Three days later she underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor.

Samantha was up and walking around the very next day, Glen said, but she stayed at the hospital for a week to recover. She even got to participate in a video that appeared just before the Super Bowl. In it Samantha and other cancer patients are urging the Patriots on. In Samantha’s spot she tells the team it has moxie just like her.

Samantha was able to go back to school for a bit around Valentine’s Day, but then two weeks ago she began her daily treatments of radiation at the Francis H. Burr Proton Therapy Center in Boston. Each week Samantha and Anne head off-Island on Sunday night and remain there until Friday, staying at an apartment in Charlestown provided by a nonprofit called Home Away. During the week, Glen holds down the fort on the Island taking care of Samantha’s younger sister Julia, a six-year-old first grader at the Tisbury School.

“I showed Julia some clips from the old Odd Couple movie,” Glen said. “She decided that I’m Felix and she’s Oscar. But when I told Anne, she said ‘how in the world did you get to be Felix?’”

Samantha will receive radiation treatments for six weeks, along with small doses of chemotherapy, and then after a short break to get her strength back she will begin a full chemotherapy schedule for a period that could extend until December.

Glen reports that Samantha is doing well, under the circumstances. “She’s very much herself, although she is very aware of what is going on,” he said. “She’s maintained her sense of humor,” he added. Her teacher at the Tisbury School, Jill Waxweiler, and her classmates have been sending her cards and videos to keep her in touch with everyone back at school.

It is a very long haul, but to talk to Glen is to hear about a family who is holding it together under extremely difficult conditions, in part thanks to their friends and the community. Anne teaches freshman skills at the high school, and thanks to the high school's medical leave policy and generous colleagues who have donated their sick days to her, Anne feels the full support of the school, she said, and will be able to be spend the rest of the school year taking care of Samantha.

“The meal train has been awesome, too,” Glen said. During the week he said there isn’t much of a need with just he and Julia at the house, but on weekends, when the whole family finally gets to be together for two days, the prepared meals allow them to focus their time on each other, rather than cooking and doing the dishes.

“It’s a learning curve, accepting help and asking for help,” Glen said. “It feels weird but you need it. You can’t do it alone. So we are getting there. And Sunday's going to be a fun day.”

Jam for Sam takes place at the Offshore Ale Company in Oak Bluffs on Sunday, March 15 beginning at 8 a.m. and continuing throughout the day and evening. All of the food proceeds will be donated to the Caldwell family. In addition to a full day of food and music, there will be a silent auction held at the Offshore General store. Tax deductible contributions can also be made to the You’ve Got a Friend foundation. Mail checks to YGAF, Inc, c/o Samantha Caldwell, P.O. Box 1317, West Tisbury, Ma., 02575. Write Samantha Caldwell in the memo line of the check.