In 2010, when I was just six years old, everything changed.  My dad was suddenly diagnosed with AML, the most deadly form of leukemia.   It was the beginning of our family's journey with LLS. After months of hospitalization and hundreds of hours of toxic chemotherapy my father was finally in remission! It was such a happy time for me and my family.  

Unfortunately, my dad relapsed in 2014.  His only path forward for survival was a bone marrow transplant. This time around the seriousness of the situation hit me. I was 4 years older and the threat that leukemia posed against my father was so much more real. Due to the hours upon hours of chemotherapy that my dad would need my extended family really came together to help out my mom and my dad at this tough time. I can remember the small things like my aunt driving me to school or my older cousins getting me off the bus and coming to help me with homework when my mom and dad couldn't be there because of this awful disease. 

On Good Friday 2015, my father had a successful transplant!  The year following was a struggle for my father and our family, but we got there.  Very shortly after the transplant was my 11th birthday. I had not expected my dad to be home because he had just had the transplant two weeks earlier, but to my surprise there he was waiting with open arms as I walked onto my porch after a day of school. 

Sadly, in 2016 he relapsed again, it rocked me and my family's world for the 3rd time. I can remember having no doubt that he could beat it. After many more months of chemotherapy and countless time spent hospitalized, my dad once again was in remission!   

Now I am excited to announce that I have been nominated as a 2020 Student of the Year candidate for Leukemia Lymphoma Society. The Student of the Year campaign is a 7-week fundraising campaign. I, along with my two team members are determined to raise our goal of $250,000 in honor of my dad. 

I am honored to participate as a team member for the 2020 Students of the Year program, a seven-week initiative in which select high school students from around the country participate in a fundraising competition to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am proud to support my candidate and am raising critical dollars in honor of a young patient hero who is currently battling or is in remission from a blood cancer. Each dollar is a vote. The candidate team that raises the most money at the end of the seven weeks is named Student of the Year. Our mission is to not only raise the most money but also to bring attention to blood cancers like leukemia, which is the most common form of cancer in children and teens.

Since the early 1960s, five-year survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled. And many LLS supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are helping patients with other cancers and serious diseases. In fact, drugs first approved for blood cancers are now approved to treat patients with stomach cancers, skin cancers, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

We really are changing the face of blood cancer!

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. They'll not only support LLS-funded research but will help provide critical information and support for patients, and support advocacy for laws to ensure patients can access the care and treatments they need.

Please visit our website often and bring friends who would also like to donate!

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere, thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit www.lls.org.