Abigail’s Cause:

It is a very sobering fact that, at some point in our lives, everyone will know someone who has been diagnosed with cancer and be profoundly impacted by the disease. For me, that person was my cousin Zachary. He was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in early 2018. He fought bravely for almost two years, but sadly passed away last year at the age of fourteen.  Fourteen -- just one year younger than I was at the time, and the age my brother is now. It is still hard for me to believe.  September 1, 2019, the day that Zachary passed away, was by far the most heartbreaking and painful day of my life, but it was also the day I decided to take action in the fight against cancer. I decided to turn my pain into a passion in order to ensure that one day no other child will go through what Zachary went through and that no other family will experience this kind of loss. Zachary and I were extremely close, and it comforts me to know that by signing up for this campaign I am proactively honoring his memory.  Every three minutes someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer.  Every nine minutes, someone dies from one.  Leukemia is the most common form of cancer in children and teens, and approximately 3,500 children in the U.S. alone are diagnosed with Leukemia each year.  3,500 sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, and, in my case, cousins.  I am serving as a candidate for the 2021 LLS Students of the Year Campaign because I want nothing more than to lower that statistic, a goal The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and I share.

Alexa’s Cause:

I know so many people affected by not only blood cancer, but so many other types of cancer. Three of my grandparents passed away from cancer, and it's for people like them that I am fighting with LLS. Blood cancer research is the gateway into many other forms of cancer research because blood is accessible and can be easily tested unlike many tumors involved in other forms of cancer. Many of the approaches first researched and tested on blood cancer, such as Car T-Cell Therapy, can help treat other cancers.  I'm fighting with LLS to cure blood cancer, and better yet, cancer overall. 

Hi! 

We are two juniors who attend Walton High School in Georgia. We both are very excited about this campaign as we each have personal connections to cancer and we are both passionate about helping our generation be the one to find the cure for cancer! We have assembled a team of our friends and classmates and we are hoping to raise $50,000 for blood cancer research. Every donation helps and we hope you will join us in the fight against cancer!

Sincerely, 

Abigail West and Alexa Weston

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page, welcome!

I encourage you to join me in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. By donating to LLS, you support the many facets of LLS’s mission work from investing in groundbreaking research, providing education and support to patients, and advocating at the state and federal level for legislation to help those living with cancer. My appreciation for your support cannot be overstated — each and every dollar donated to LLS brings us closer to our goal to end blood cancer and makes an impact for cancer patients and their families.

As a global leader in the fight to end cancer, LLS is committed to doing more for blood cancer patients and families than any organization in the world. LLS’s signature fundraising campaigns drive critical support for its mission, including a nearly $1.3 billion investment in cutting edge cancer research worldwide since it was founded in 1949. Since the 1960s, survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.

Every facet of LLS’s mission – research, education and support, and policy and advocacy – work in harmony to put blood cancer patients and their families first. LLS has helped millions impacted by cancer throughout its more than 70-year history, even funding breakthrough blood cancer research to advance lifesaving treatments and cures that is now helping patients with other cancers and diseases. That is why at LLS we say that beating cancer is in our blood.

Please visit my website as often as you can and share it with everyone you know who would also like to join us in the fight against cancer. Together, we have the power, the passion and the resolve to achieve a world without blood cancer. All donations are tax-deductible.

On behalf of cancer patients and their families everywhere, I sincerely thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org