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.

I would also like to share how near and dear to my heart this cause is. My inspiration for the campaign comes from a friend who I went to elementary school with, Amelia. In November 2013, after a month of nausea, vomiting and vision changes, she was diagnosed with a tumor in the frontal lobe of her brain.  It took another two months, and two brain surgeries, to diagnosis her with Peripheral T-Cell Lymphoma of the brain, a type of cancer usually found in immunocompromised, adult men, not an otherwise healthy teenager. Amelia spent 6 more months in the hospital receiving very intensive chemotherapy, suffering from many complications and life-threatening side effects.  Finally in July 2014, she was released from the hospital and spent the next several years in physical and occupational therapy to regain strength and movement.  She has right-sided weakness due to the cancer, and wear a brace on my leg to help her walk. She is about to graduate high school and look forward to attending college and pursuing a career working with animals. Our goal is to raise $50,000 for a research grant in her name.

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.