Hello!

My name is Sam Katzman and I'm a sophomore at Syracuse University. When I was only five years old, my great-grandmother, Gladys "Lally" Seltzer, was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Lally was ninety-two years old when she received the diagnosis, so her odds of survival were slim and the risks associated with aggressive treatment were high. Nevertheless, with great courage and positivity, she decided to fight the cancer. Lally beat cancer two years later at age ninety-four, and eventually lived to ninety-seven, living her last three years cancer-free. Several doctors who treated Lally boasted that they had never had a patient of that age make the decision to attack the cancer with such aggressive chemotherapy treatment. Because she chose to fight the Lymphoma rather than succumbing to it, I got five more years with to create life-long memories with her. Lally's positive attitude and bravery left me inspired to continue her fight against cancer. 

In 2018, I competed in the Student of the Year (SOY) program, a seven-week fundraising competition for LLS. The following year I founded the LLS Fundraising Club at Natick High School, recruited the next generation of SOY candidates, and mentored them through the process. Fast forward to 2022 and I'm sitting on the LLS Jr. Leadership Team and mentoring Natick's fifth straight candidate team, the longest-lasting SOY legacy team in New England.

Please join me in supporting LLS!

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 more than $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.