Everybody is touched by cancer. More than 172,000 people in The United States are diagnosed with either Leukemia, Lymphoma, or Myeloma each year. In particular, my family has faced multiple cases of Leukemia within the past few years. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) is without a doubt a cause that is close to my heart.

Dr. Brian Druker, a renowned professor of medicine at the Oregon Health and Science University and director of the Knight Cancer Institute, was instrumental in the development of a crucial drug: Gleevec. Though Gleevec was developed with the intent to combat Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML), the F.D.A. approved Gleevec to be applicable to ten other cancers, treating an additional 200,000 patients. With the support from programs such as LLS, molecular biologists from around the world have developed hundreds of new treatments, sent thousands more in clinical development, and saved hundreds of thousands of lives – but that’s not good enough. We want to raise the bar.

Please join me in supporting LLS by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. With your support, my efforts, kindled by my family's history with leukemia and Dr. Druker, will help fund the therapies and treatments to save lives.