Well, hello and a happy campaign kickoff to all those visiting my page today! I am writing this first post the night before our campaign kickoff celebration tomorrow, and I could not be more excited! Since this is my first post, I wanted to share a bit more about myself and my WHY for participating in the Students of the Year Campaign. First, I am a current senior at Mount De Sales Academy, and I participate in various activities such as athletics and school clubs. In addition to that, I love to be an advocate for organizations that are near and dear to my heart, and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is one of those indeed! Now comes my WHY for wanting to participate in this campaign. Within my family, I have had a few members who have experienced blood cancer and many more impacted by them. On my father's side, it was his father, my grandfather, who had Non-Hodgkin lymphoma. While I was never able to meet him, my dad would always share the funniest stories, and I was told that the two of us would cause mischief. When I was just a newborn, my dad and mom spent a lot of their time at the hospital, and when my grandfather passed, my dad was extremely affected. On Christmas of 2019, I sadly experienced the same thing my dad did when I was a newborn: the father's loss. My dad had passed away due to open-heart surgery complications, and while I miss him a great deal, I know he would be extremely proud of my choosing to participate in this campaign. In addition, he would also love that I'm honoring his father, a man he truly loved and adored.  

Pictured Above: William "Poppy" Kistner (grandfather) on the left and William "Bill" Kistner (father) on right

Now on my mother's side, two of my great uncles experienced blood cancer. Vince, my one great uncle, had Hodgkin lymphoma and has thankfully been in remission for a little over 30 years. However, not long before finding out about his diagnosis, his brother, Gino, had just passed from Leukemia. My great uncle Gino was an extremely gifted writer and had a written a poem which has now become a prized possession of our family. The final line of the poem is our family motto and also the inspiration for our team name. The poem has also been used on family prayer cards, including that of my father's, and its final line is even a tattoo for various family members. It's something that should be remembered always, especially in hard times, and I hope the poem (which is posted below) can offer the same comfort it offers my family. I quickly recited this poem before taking foul shots in middle school basketball and I currently quickly recite it before I race during track meets. Now I hope after all of this, you are inspired to join the fight for the cure with me and donate to this wonderful cause. Can't wait to keep you guys updated on the amazing journey to come! Love to you all!

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