Thank you for visiting my fundraising page, welcome!

I, Jenna Fagundes, am honored to say that I am a candidate for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Student of the Year campaign. I am writing today to ask for your support in my efforts to help LLS in its mission to ensure access to cures and treatments for blood cancers. 55 of the 65 FDA approved treatments since 2017 were a result of blood cancer research through LLS. The LLS funded more than 60% of the blood cancer therapies being used to treat other cancers and serious diseases. I am competing with several other Student of the Year candidates in the Central Valley and together we will each put our best fundraising foot forward in honor of all those fighting blood cancers.

I accepted this nomination without hesitation and was very excited to be a part of something so important as well as joining the battle for a cure. Little did I know that after accepting this nomination, this campaign would become a lot more personal to me. 

My grandmother became diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer and my grandfather’s lymphoma returned after my family thought he was free of it. These events took place only a few short days after I accepted my nomination. I am now dedicating my campaign in their name and fundraising in their honor as they both continue to fight and hopefully reach my fundraising goal to be able to fund as well as dedicate a research grant in their name. I remember their reaction after telling them I was fundraising in their name after a family dinner, they were both so happy and proud of this opportunity for me to be able to join in on such an amazing cause. I wish that hopefully, they can be there to see this campaign take place and see a research grant be put in their name to help those who are fighting their same battle. 

I quickly realized that this campaign was going to be a tough one to do alone, so I asked my lifelong best friend Paige Lawson as well as an amazing team to join me in this fight for a cure. Paige joined me as soon as I asked and together we formed Team BFF: Blondes For the Fight.  

Our campaign to be the Students of the Year is all about dollars raised and I am asking you today to join us in this ambitious campaign. I have until Friday, April 9th to reach our goal of raising $75,000 for the LLS. Please consider making a tax-deductible donation! Your donation will prevent someone from losing a child, sibling, parent, or loved one, and allow LLS to continue funding life-saving research. 

Please reach out to others you know and ask them to contribute as well. I have found that so many of the people I talk to about my campaign have a connection to blood cancer and want to support LLS. 

I thank you in advance for your support on our campaign journey. 

Sincerely,
Jenna Fagundes
2021 Student of the Year candidate

fresnostudentsoftheyear@gmail.com
 Make your donation go further and see if your company matches gifts or donations!

Dear Friends & Family 

I, Paige Lawson, am honored to announce that I am a candidate for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) Student of the Year campaign. I have composed this letter today to ask for your support in my mission to ensure access to cures and treatment for blood cancers. I am competing with several other candidates of the LLS team within Fresno, CA. Together we are striving to put our best fundraising foot forward in honor of all these fighting blood cancers. 

As childhood cancer is terrible, leukemia is the most common. With that leukemia now has the highest cure rate of any blood cancer, this is only made possible with LLS. I know for most this year is surrounded with COVID-19 so we haven't seen what else is going on but cancer is still taking lives and I want to allow you to help make a change by being a part of my LLS journey in raising funds, to find the cure!

Growing up cancer has always been a part of my family and it's something I wish no one else had to experience, but the troubling thing is it's more common than we know. Witnessing someone struggling through chemotherapy radiation and many more treatments has not only affected my family but affected me. It's hard to see in the ones you love go through that amount of pain. These heart wrenching experiences have shown me how important it is to be able to find a cure and finally kick cancer to the curb. LLS is responsible for the research of 60 out of 70 FDA approved treatments and it's important to keep on this uphill trend in this battle. I am taking on this campaign with my best friend Jenna Fagundes. When asked to take on this challenge, we quickly accepted knowing we would be making a change in people's futures.
Here is how you can be a part of the cure…

As a candidate for Student of the Year we will count the dollars raised,and I am asking you to join me in this ambitious campaign, I have till Friday April 9th to reach my goal of $75,000. Please make checks payable to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and note “Paige Lawson” in the memo portion. Or as most prefer, you can go to my campaign website and make your contribution in the safety of your own home.  https://www.soyteambff.org or scan the QR code with your phone’s camera.

Your donation will prevent a parent from the heartbreak of losing a child, a sister or brother from losing a sibling or anyone losing a friend, Allow LLS to continue funding lifesaving research by  learning more about LLS and our mission.

If you can reach out to others you know and ask them to contribute, it will be appreciated more than you think. I found that the more that people talk about it the more you can realise how many people can connect to my campaign.