Thank you for your support of my Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign! Please visit SVOY Charlotte 24 | Powered By GiveSmart to make your donation to my campaign. All you need to do is click on the link, and scroll down until you see Team Checkmate Cancer!

Student Visionaries for Team Checkmate Cancer,
Maddie Rizzo, Devin Bell, and James Ter Poorten

Visionaries look to the future—and see infinite possibility.
They challenge the status quo—and make the impossible possible.
They boldly imagine a better world – and lead the charge to create it.

I have had the honor to grow up around a true visionary: my mother. My mom was a leader in the way that she did not only show passionate bravery in her battle against blood cancer, but in the way that she hoped for a better world for her children. She taught me to love others, be authentically myself, and how to stand tall in a world that can be cruel. The world had truly been vicious to her, dealing out cards of twos rather than aces or kings. She took on rounds of chemo only for it to come back in a sucker punch, losing muscle and hair, but never spirit and love. She taught me that life is beautiful, even if you are sitting in a hospital bed or wheelchair. She taught me that being a visionary is to be a leader for which I can only hope that I have half of the passion and courage she did. 

My mother, Meghan Rizzo, and my two sisters, Carys and Noelle.

I am a visionary. I am a visionary for my family and the people affected by the

hurricane that is cancer. I am a visionary for my two sisters that my mother had sadly left; I hope they can see a world without cancer. I am a visionary for the patients in hospital beds, the loved ones sitting outside the patient’s room, and the ones who reminisce over loved ones taken too soon. 

I have a vision of a world without cancer, but I need your help.

This year, I’m proud to be a part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign, working to raise as much as possible for LLS’s mission.

 As a global leader in the fight against blood cancer, LLS:

• Funds cutting-edge research leading to breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics and personalized medicine that are improving and saving the lives of patients

• Provides free education and support for blood cancer patients and families, including personalized, one-on-one support, assistance with identifying and enrolling in clinical trials, and more.

• Mobilizes thousands of advocates to drive policy changes that accelerate the development of new cancer treatments and break down barriers to care.

My sister, Noelle Rizzo, and I.

Please consider joining this fight by making a donation. All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible. Please visit my website often and tell friends who would also like to donate!

Thanks to your support, our efforts will help ensure this generation is the last to see cancer.

 On behalf of my mother, sisters, aunt (her twin sister and my role model), and blood cancer patients, and myself thank you!

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