I have signed up to save lives with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and am working to raise as much as possible over the next 7 weeks. Every dollar raised counts as one vote for my campaign. The candidate(s) whose team tallies the most votes earns the prestigious title of Student or Students of the Year. 
 
As you know, everyone wins when cancer loses. My efforts will help fund therapies and treatments that are saving lives. Over the years, support from people like you has been responsible for the blood cancer advancements that have doubled, tripled, and in some cases quadrupled the survival rate for some blood cancers.

I am taking part in this campaign because I have personally been impacted by cancer greatly. My grandfather has been battling prostate cancer for over a decade now and it is research from LLS that helps with finding a cure to cancer. I also had my own personal cancer scare that has impacted me every day since this scare. When I was in seventh grade, I woke up on a snowy March morning and began my day, a day like every other. Only to find that my day would change dramatically.  Getting out of bed, I felt a stabbing pain in my lower left arm.  I had never felt pain like this before. Later that morning I went to the orthopedist, I got an X-ray and my heart sank when I saw the image on the screen, there was a large tumor on my humerus. After seeing my MRI, the doctor felt that it was not cancerous; however, I needed to see a tumor specialist. That was when I was referred to two oncologists, one at Yale New Haven Hospital and one at Memorial Sloan Kettering.  I needed two bone graft operations to repair my humerus because it was extremely brittle as a result of the benign tumor.

When I met with the doctor from Yale, the office was full of many people with different injuries and medical issues. When I went to Memorial Sloan Kettering, it was a completely different story. What I saw that day is something that I think about all of the time. A waiting room, full of children with all forms of cancer. Some were only a few years old and others were in their teens.  It was clear some of the children were undergoing treatment and had lost their hair, while others were hooked up to an IV. Some were playing, others were reading, and some were sleeping. It also dawned on me that some of these children may not survive. That was really upsetting. That visit to Memorial Sloan Kettering had a profound effect on me. I realized we need to do everything in our power to find a cure for cancer.  No child should be suffering in a hospital wondering if they are going to live or die. Later that year my friends and I hosted a card drive for children at Sloan Kettering. 

When I was offered the chance to participate in the LLS fundraising campaign, I did not hesitate and signed up.  I wanted to do it for the children in the waiting room at Memorial Sloan Kettering.  My hope is that someday that waiting room will be empty.  

Many LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are also now used to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers and are in clinical trials for patients with lung, brain, breast, pancreatic, and prostate cancers. And LLS-funded drugs like targeted therapies and immunotherapies are now saving thousands of lives every day.
 
 
All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible. They'll not only support LLS research, but patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services as well.
 
Please visit my website often and tell 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