I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to help others. My name is Revathi Sathi, and I am a Freshman at Clovis North. In my free time, I play the cello, do archery, talk with my friends, listen to music, draw, and study. In the past, I have always been interested in helping others because my mother has worked hard to make other’s lives better. Now as a teenager, I want to take initiative and make a difference in my community. 

My mother is a pediatric Hematologist Oncologist. As a kid, I have seen my mother work tirelessly to improve the lives of many kids with cancer; thus, I would like to help her efforts by contributing to this fundraiser for kids diagnosed with blood cancer. During my volunteering at the cancer ward, I have witnessed firsthand the debilitating effects of chemotherapy on children. Despite all this, the children are hopeful and optimistic about beating cancer. I want to join in their optimism and contribute to saving lives. One way to do this will be to get more research which will help in the discovery of drugs that will have a cure with reduced side effects. Using immunological and bioengineering advances, the goal will be to target cancer in a very precise manner, so that the harmful effects to other organs and tissues are minimal.

I am Achuth Vinay, a freshman at Clovis North High School. I am participating in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Student Visionaries of the Year campaign. Basketball is one of my favorite activities and I also play chess. I hope to do my part in supporting those in our community for team Valley Blossoms of Hope.

Each year, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Student Visionaries of the Year fundraising campaign, and I was honored to be nominated this year as a candidate. 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.  

From Feburary 29th - April 19, 2023, our team goal is to raise $100,000 which will go directly to LLS in support of its longstanding goal: a world without blood cancers.  If we raise 150,000, we can link our team name to two LLS-funded research portfolio to honor our efforts to help people with blood cancers, and attend a research gathering to interact with the researches that are on the front line.  

We are leading this team in honor of our hero, Bekah Henkelmann, a current sophomore at Buchanan High School, who was diagnosed with a rare form of Leukemia in early 2022.  Henkelmann was treated with chemotherapy, and a few months later, she entered into remission and returned to school!   After seeing what Bekah Henkelmann went through due to this horrible disease, we wanted to participate in this great cause and do everything possible to help her and others who are affected by Leukemia and Lymphoma. 

There are many reasons to be proud to support LLS’s efforts. For instance, LLS helped advance 55 of the 65 blood cancer treatment options approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2017 to date. Many of these LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now approved to treat patients with other types of cancer like breast, liver, and colon cancer, and noncancerous diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.    

This is an organization that is making an impact with the dollars it raises, and I’m proud to be associated with LLS.  

This is where you come in.  

You can make a donation in any amount and mail a check payable to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to 7491 N Remington Ave Unit 101 Fresno, CA 93711 United States. Please note, Team Valley Blossoms of Hope in the memo section of the check. You can also make an online donation by visiting my personal fundraising page at https://events.lls.org/cca/svoyfresno24/avinay.  

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.