Dear Family and Friends

I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to help others.

Each year, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Student of the Year fundraising campaign, and I am honored to join this year’s efforts. I am writing today to ask for your support of LLS’s mission in its efforts to find cures for blood cancers and to assist patients and families as they battle this disease. This is truly an amazing cause.

From January 9, 2019 – February 22, 2019, my goal is to raise $15,000 which will go directly to LLS in support of its longstanding goal: a world without blood cancers. This campaign is so important to me because, like many of you, I have witnessed first-hand the debilitating effects that cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma can have on not only those diagnosed but their loved ones as well. In 2016, my nana, was diagnosed with breast cancer, resulting in a single mastectomy and twenty lymph node removals. Then, my papa was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in early 2017. While I am proud to say they both fought their battles with cancer and beat it, my goal is to help create a world where no cancers exist.  

There are many reasons to be proud to support LLS’s efforts.  For instance, approximately 40% of new cancer therapies approved by the FDA between 2000 and 2015 were first approved for blood cancer patients. In fact, the research for 34 of last 39 drugs approved by the FDA was funded by LLS. And many of these LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now approved to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers, and noncancerous diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.  They're even being tested in clinical trials for patients with a range of cancers including lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers, and noncancerous diseases such as diabetes and lupus.   

This is an organization that is making an impact with the dollars it raises, and I’m proud to be associated with LLS and to help raise money for something that can help and reach so many people.

Please join me in combating cancer by making a donation of any amount to my campaign today! You can send your tax- deductible contribution (payable to Leukemia & Lymphoma society or LLS with my name on the memo portion of the check) to 1800 30^th St. Fourth Floor, Bakersfield, CA 93301. Or if you prefer, you can go to my campaign website and make your contribution there: 

https://events.lls.org/cca/bakersfieldsoy19/anapier

I thank you in advance for supporting this incredible need. I’ll keep you posted on how the campaign goes. For now, I am grateful for your friendship and support.

Sincerely,

            Andi Shae Napier

P.S. Does your company have a matching gifts program that might be willing to match your donation?