Hi! My name is Isabelle Mitchell and I am a junior at the Academy of the Holy Cross in Kensington Maryland. I decided to join the Students of the Year campaign after seeing one of my loved ones suffer from a blood cancer. My aunt, Laura Mitchell, had been diagnosed with stage 4 Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma cancer when I was ten. This had been a huge shock to me because I didn’t really understand what cancer was or how it affected so many people. After a year and a half of Chemotherapy and Stem cell therapy she called and had the best news, she was in remission. I am in this campaign not only to help find a cure for blood cancers, but to honor all cancer patients around the world who fight for their lives everyday. 

I am honored to participate in the 2019 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 be 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(s) 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.