I am a freshman at Washington-Lee. I'm part of the Cancer Education & Action club at our school, and recently became involved with Team Juliana. Our club's founding members were close friends of Juliana Clarkson, who lost her battle with Luekemia a few weeks before beginning her freshman year of high school. Now that I am at WL, I have joined Team Juliana, a group of students working to raise funds and awareness in her honor.

 While I only met her once, in the short time I've spent as part of Team Juliana I've gotten to know so much more about a girl who lived her life with a smile on her face. By raising money for LLS together, we fight to make sure that no one else has to lose someone as bright as Juliana to blood cancers. 

This year, I am patricipating 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 Juliana. 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.

While participating in the Cancer Education & Action club at Washington-Lee and the 2019 Students of the Year Campaign (and by observing our society today), I understand that to make a change, we have to take initiative. Talking about a cancer-free future is not enough, and we must actively pursue the change we want to see. Students of the Year gives us a platform to put words into to action and help find a cure to cancer. I hope that you will join me and Team Juliana in the fight to find a cure!   

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.