Dear Friends,

In this new year, we realize more than ever the importance of good health.  Allow me to tell you about Evan Marra.

Remember your 10^th birthday? The excitement of no longer being a little kid was all you thought of.  Weeks before his 10^th birthday, Evan was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia.  Instead of celebrating with his friends, he spent his 10^th birthday at Children’s Hospital in Los Angeles in a fight for his life.  

Leukemia causes more deaths in children under twenty than any other cancer. With the most common form, Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, there is a 90% survival rate for children. Evan was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia with a survival rate of less than 50%. Through multiple rounds of chemotherapy and to pass the time in isolation, Evan became a pro at lego assembly!

Our connection with Evan is very personal.  His mom and our daughter Renee Norton are best friends and we’ve known Evan since birth.  Our Granddaughter, Karina Norton, a sophomore at Mayfield Senior School, has joined with her friend Audrey Von Wolffradt and taken on the incredible mission of being a part of curing not just leukemia, but all cancers. They are participating in a fundraising effort called Student of the Year that runs from January 14 – March 6, 2021. Funds raised will go to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, whose research benefits all cancer patients. More than 40% of the new cancer treatment drugs approved by the FDA since 2005 started as blood cancer drugs but are now being applied in other forms of cancer. The creativity that is happening in LLS-funded trials is impacting the future, and I am proud of the girls in their decision to join the battle to cure cancer.

After 9 months in the hospital, living with chemotherapy and isolation, a bone marrow transplant from his sister Eileen has brought Evan hope.  He is testimony to the importance of research.  Will you join us in supporting the effort to eradicate blood cancer, find innovative treatments for all cancers.  Every gift large and small will truly make a difference. The enclosed card shows the different ways to help.

In gratitude for your consideration,
Margie & Tom Romano

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page, welcome!

I encourage you to join me in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. By donating to LLS, you support the many facets of LLS’s mission work from investing in groundbreaking research, providing education and support to patients, and advocating at the state and federal level for legislation to help those living with cancer. My appreciation for your support cannot be overstated — each and every dollar donated to LLS brings us closer to our goal to end blood cancer and makes an impact for cancer patients and their families.

As a global leader in the fight to end cancer, LLS is committed to doing more for blood cancer patients and families than any organization in the world. LLS’s signature fundraising campaigns drive critical support for its mission, including a nearly $1.3 billion investment in cutting edge cancer research worldwide since it was founded in 1949. Since the 1960s, survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.

Every facet of LLS’s mission – research, education and support, and policy and advocacy – work in harmony to put blood cancer patients and their families first. LLS has helped millions impacted by cancer throughout its more than 70-year history, even funding breakthrough blood cancer research to advance lifesaving treatments and cures that is now helping patients with other cancers and diseases. That is why at LLS we say that beating cancer is in our blood.

Please visit my website as often as you can and share it with everyone you know who would also like to join us in the fight against cancer. Together, we have the power, the passion and the resolve to achieve a world without blood cancer. All donations are tax-deductible.

On behalf of cancer patients and their families everywhere, I sincerely thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org