Dear Friends and Family,

I have been given the opportunity to help a cause that is close to my heart. Each year The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Student of the Year fundraising campaign. Along with two of my closest friends and cross-country teammates, Justin and Colton, I am honored to be a candidate for Student of the Year on “Team Blood Runners”. Students of the Year is a seven-week spirited fundraising campaign which runs March 13^th - May 3rd, to help support the mission of the LLS in its efforts to find cures for blood cancers and to assist patients and their families. I could not be more excited to make a difference in the lives of patients across the country!

The reason I got involved with Student of the Year was because one and a half years ago I suffered a traumatic brain injury that put me out of school for a year and still affects me to this day. The struggle I went through just to make it through the day is only a fraction of what someone with blood cancer endures. In addition, one of my best friends and teammates, Justin Hatcher, was sick and hospitalized when he was 9. He went from being an active kid one day to someone undergoing brain surgery. There are so many sick children spending day after day in the hospital, when all they want to do is be with their friends in school and playing outside.

Two people like this are our SLO County Girl and Boy of the Year, Claire Noland (age 6) and Mateo Cota (age 7), (pictured). Claire, who now enjoys visiting children in

the hospital and someday wants to be a doctor, is in remission after going through 6

rounds of chemotherapy for lymphoma. Mateo (aka the "Beast") does not let his illness get in the way of playing baseball, having fun and just being a kid. He is currently recovering from a bone marrow transplant from his older brother, after being in treatment for leukemia for most of his life.

By raising funds for LLS we honor patients like Claire and Mateo, so that one day others won't have to go through what these amazing kids have experienced while in treatment. I am asking for your help to reach our team fundraising goal of $15,000. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation!

To donate online, please visit my fundraising page through this link: https://events.lls.org/cca/slosoy2019/abloom. Should you donate online, you will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and I will be notified as soon as you place your donation. If you would prefer to donate by mail, please make your check payable to: 

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and print “Aaron Bloom" in the memo section.

Checks can be mailed to: Aaron Bloom, 2085 Binns Court, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. The deadline for receiving contributions via mail is 5/1/19 or via the online link 5/1/19. Please feel free to share this message and link with your friends and family. Many may have a connection to cancer and might be moved to contribute to this great cause. Thank you so much in advance for supporting me in this fundraising opportunity to help the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in finding a cure for blood cancers.

Sincerely,

Aaron Bloom