Please join me this Saturday February 8th from 5-8PM for a special Kendra gives back party!

See below for details of this event taking place at the Kendra Scott store at the Fashion Mall at Keystone! This is a great way to shop for Valentine's day and give back to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Foundation! Please join me on Saturday!

Update 2/9/2020: Thanks to all the great associates at Kendra Scott for hosting my LLS event! Thanks also to all friends and customers who turned out to support LLS through your purchases at Kendra Scott!

I am only in highschool, and yet, I have already lost one of my teammates, classmates, neighbors, and extended family members to cancer. Four years ago, one of the girls on my rowing team died in just a few months from a rare form of cancer. I didn’t know her very well because she was on the varsity team, but many of my friends were very close to her and were devastated to lose her. We still think about her every day at practice because we often row in a boat named in her honor (pictured below). Later that same year, my big brother lost one of his classmates to leukemia; she was only a freshman in high school.

I’ve also seen our neighbors and family struggle to fight other kinds of cancer, and ultimately, lose the battle. I used to see our neighbor every day walking her two dogs, and now her house is empty. When I was in fourth grade, my cousin’s cousin was diagnosed with a rare cancerous brain tumor and died when he was just 13. I saw how my aunt, uncle, and cousins cared for him when he was sick and how much they still miss him.   

When I was recently nominated as a candidate for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s “Students of the Year Campaign”, I knew this was a great opportunity for me to do something to help. This program was created as a way for high school students to contribute to the fight against cancer and to develop valuable life skills along the way. Leukemia still causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of 20.

I have already learned so much about new innovations in cancer treatments, and I now have more hope. For example, this year’s LLS Hero of the Year is Tyler Ralstin (his photo is below). His story shows that cancer can be beat. He was diagnosed with leukemia when he was 8 years old, and after spending many months in Riley Children’s Hospital, he is thankfully now in remission.

I am really excited to be supporting such a prominent organization that is already helping so many people. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society raises donations to both fund pathbreaking cancer research and to help families receive the treatments they need. LLS helped pioneer 46 of the 53 blood cancer treatment options approved by the FDA in 2017 and 2018. Since cancer cells in the blood are easier to access and study than those in tumors, blood cancer research funded by LLS has also helped many patients with other types of cancers and diseases as well, including diabetes and MS. Please join me in this rewarding campaign as we continue the effort to defeat cancer.

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.