All I have left to say is simply just thank you. Thank you so much for your generous contributions to my Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign! With your help, Team Refuse to Lose was able to raise a total of $16,107 to put an end to cancer! I am forever grateful to those of you who donated, came to one of my events, or even just supported me throughout my campaign. It all means so much more than you’ll ever know to me! We are so thankful for all your donations and urge you to stay involved and informed about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and their groundbreaking research. I’m sure you are already aware, but if not I wanted to let you know that I am just one of 30 high schoolers who were given this opportunity to be a 2024 Student Visionaries of the Year candidate for LLS.

The Student Visionaries of the Year campaign continues to raise the bar to cure cancer and I am proud to say that this year was no different. Because of generous supporters like you, this group of high school students in our area raised a grand total of $526,161! I am so incredibly proud to have taken part in that. This past Saturday 4/13 was the Grand Finale Celebration for this year's Student Visionaries of the Year campaign for LLS. I had such an amazing time and I am so thankful that I had lots of family and friends there to support me.

At the beginning of our 7 week campaign, all of the candidates were tasked with representing one of LLS’s three mission pillars: Research, Patient Education and Support and Policy and Advocacy. A few weeks ago the candidates all submitted an application to apply for one of the mission pillar awards which were given at the grand finale. I had the honor of receiving this year’s Policy and Advocacy Mission Pillar Award and I am honestly still kind of in shock. I am beyond grateful to have received this award and that all of my hard work was recognized.

None of this would have been possible without everyone’s support and I just wanted to say one last thank you to you all! I hope to continue my involvement with LLS for many years to come and throughout the rest of my high school career. 

While we eagerly anticipate next year’s campaign, visit LLS.Org to keep up with all the amazing work LLS is doing and the ways you and your family can get involved.

Thank you again for all your support, we could not have done it without your help! At the bottom of this post you’ll find some images from some of my fundraisers throughout my campaign and from the Grand Finale Celebration!

Sincerely,

Lucas Casterline

2024 Student Visionaries of the Year Candidate

Thank you so much for your interest in supporting the mission of LLS!  Please note, gifts made on this page after 5:00pm on Thursday, April 11th, 2024 will not be counted towards the competition for the 2024 Triangle Student Visionaries of the Year. To make a gift that will be credited to your candidate’s competition total after 5:00pm on Thursday, April 11th, please visit https://e.givesmart.com/events/Bte/i/ 

I would like to personally thank everyone who was able to come and support my campaign at the Weekend Excursion concert this past Saturday 3/9 at The Rialto. The concert was a huge success and I had an amazing time. If you were able to go, then you have already heard me say this in the speech I gave, but a big thanks goes out to the following: Hayes Permar, Falls Village Vet, Chris Neal from Summit Broker Resource Insurance, Matt Key with SignCraft Solutions and Erik from How ‘Bout Burger. I would also love to give a big thanks to the band members of Weekend Excursion for being so flexible and for putting on such an incredible show: Danny Donovan, Cas Edmunds, Mike Ferry, Sam Fisher, Jeff Foxworth, Chris Groch and their tour manager Rick Hitchcock. The concert was a huge success and I am beyond grateful for everyone who came out to support not only me, but the band as well. I met so many amazing people and this was such a wonderful experience for everyone involved.

I decided to join LLS because my mom was a team member for one of her former students a few years ago and helped support two of her former students last year who were team members together. Last year I accompanied my mom to the Grand Finale Celebration for LLS in April and it was such an amazing experience. It was eye-opening to see the change that these high school students, some only a few months older than me, were making. It was insane to see the hundreds or thousands of dollars that a group of high schoolers were able to raise to help others. I knew right away that this was something I wanted to be a part of and now that it is finally happening, I am forever grateful. I have a wonderful team of friends and family that share a common goal to help others and raise money for LLS called Team Refuse to Lose. I can already tell that this is going to be such a surreal and humbling experience for me and I am so honored to be a part of LLS.

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.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was built on that same vision - of a better world - one without blood cancers.

I am a visionary; I have a vision for 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.

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, my efforts will help ensure this generation is the last to see cancer.

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere, thank you!

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