Dear friends and family, 

I have been given the amazing opportunity to participate in the Leukemia and Lymphoma society’s (LLS) South Bay Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign. Student Visionaries of the Year is a 7-week leadership building campaign, lasting from February 20th to April 11th, that focuses on raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, so they can continue in their fight against Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

I have gathered a dedicated team of friends to help me in raising as much money as possible for this incredible goal. Together, we aim to raise $218,000 to help fund the LLS mission pillar of research.

Money raised helps LLS, the largest nonprofit dedicated to creating a world without blood cancers, advance initiatives like funding cutting-edge research and treatments. LLS has invested more than $1.5 billion in cancer research since 1949, leading to breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics, and personalized medicine that are improving and saving patients’ lives.

The mission LLS is accomplishing is so important to me because throughout my short life, I have experienced a serious blood disorder of my own, that caused me to lose so much of what is important to me. The condition itself, known as an AVM, was life threatening, and had to be dealt with, the problem was the only treatment was radiation, which did kill the AVM, but also killed a part of my brain. Since then, I have lost mobility of my hand, and have had to experience the pain of giving up the things I love, the torture of having to watch others live the life I dreamed of, and the isolation of knowing that I will never be able to truly join in on these activities, that were once my whole life. The only thing I could think of was that if the available treatment were better, then maybe I wouldn’t have had to go through this, and when I saw the Student Visionaries of the year program, I knew this was my chance to help change something. My campaign will provide support to the work LLS does, so that hopefully one day, nobody will lose their life because of something they can’t control.

I thank you in advance for partnering with a campaign so close to my heart, and please remember, every bit counts. All donations are tax deductible and can be made online using the QR code or via check with the enclosed donation form.

For a cure,

River

Cells of Hope