Welcome to TEAM WOLFPACK! The team consists of Ben, Maddie and Owen Koehl.  We are siblings and all attend St. Ignatius College Prep. Ben and Maddie are in the class of 2021 and Owen is the class of 2022. We are exctied to be running for Students of the Year for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Why would 3 busy high school age siblings spend time raising money in hopes to find a cure for cancer? I (Maddie) have an autoimmune disease that lands me at Lurie Children’s Hospital often.  I get monthly infusions in the same place as the kids getting chemotherapy to fight their cancer. I see the very young toddlers hooked up to IVs, who’ve lost all their hair, and feel so sick. Plus my mom and I see the worried parents and family members by their sides hoping and praying for their child to be ok.  I knew we had to do something to help. Lurie had a pamphlet on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society specifically the Student of the Year program. I took it, read and researched it and talked to my brothers about doing it together. They loved the idea and here we are! Cancer has also affected us personally. We have lost our aunt at age 31 to blood cancer and our grandmother died at age 63 when our dad was in college. We never got to meet her because of blood cancer.  No one should have to lose their loved ones and children have the right to just be kids, not fight cancer! 

We are honored to participate in 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 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.