Hi! I am Rachael Thumma!

I am extremely honored to participate as a part of team Open Hearts 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. We are raising money in honor of a young patient hero, Annabelle, who is currently battling blood cancer. Each dollar goes towards helping someone like Annabelle and helps them fight their battle against blood cancer. 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.

Beating Cancer is In Our Blood!

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!

Annabelle’s Story

CURRENT AGE: 6 

In March of 2019, Annabelle visited Arkansas for her cousin’s birthday.  While in a bouncy house, she collapsed. For weeks her mother had been told she just had a cold or was dehydrated, but that day she collapsed changed everything.  Arkansas Children’s Hospital ran the appropriate tests and discovered she had trillions of cancer cells in her body. She was diagnosed with ALLand was flown to Little Rock to begin treatment.Had this continued to be misdiagnosed and dismissed by doctors, she would have had only weeks to live.  Instead she is not only surviving the cancer but is thriving as a happy 6 year old. Annabelle’s situation taught her a simple but important lesson. In her own words, “nobody fights alone.”  

Get Involved!

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 so much for your support!

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