Henry Burneson was a lot like me. As a junior at Yorktown High School, he played high school sports, spent much of his free time giving back to the community, and was a food fanatic. Things could not have been going better for him. However, one morning, he woke up and began experiencing intense pain in his legs. Within days, he was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, the most common form of childhood cancer. Despite a survival rate of around 90%, he passed away on October 16, 2015 after battling Leukemia for nine months.

Although I never knew him personally, the impact he left on students, teachers, and the Yorktown community still resonates today. My freshman year English teacher had Henry as a student a few years earlier and placed a portrait of him in her room to honor the bright, courageous student he was. Everyday, I walked into my English classroom and glanced up at Henry above the whiteboard. And everyday I wished I could have helped him.

Now, I am honored to announce that I have been nominated to participate in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) 2020 Students of the Year (SOY) campaign, which gives me and other high school students around the country the opportunity to help kids like Henry and cure blood cancer!

Each dollar is a vote and the team that raises the most money at the end of the seven weeks is named Students of the Year! As a team, our mission is to not only raise the most money but also to bring attention to blood cancers like leukemia.

Because of campaigns like Students of the Year, LLS has seen tremendous success discovering new and more effective treatments for blood cancer patients and has created a new exciting initiative focusing on treatments for pediatric patients. In addition, many LLS supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now used to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers. They're even being tested in clinical trials for patients with a range of cancers including lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. LLS funded drugs are now being tested for patients with other non-cancerous diseases like Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis.

Please join me in supporting my campaign and LLS by making a donation on my fundraising webpage. Make sure to pass along the link to family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc. who might donate. The Leading Ladies of LLS Team Goal is $35,000, so your participation is crucial!

With your contribution, we can beat cancer and make sure no one has to go through what Henry did.