Hi there! My name is Sophia Rees and I’m a sophomore at the National Cathedral School. You may know me as a family member, a friend, or perhaps through my parents (I am the daughter of Nina and Matthew Rees). Either way, I am beyond excited to announce that I will be participating in the 2021 Students of the Year campaign to raise money for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, as a member of Team Close Cares. The Students of the Year campaign is a seven-week initiative in which high school students from around the country are nominated to participate in a fundraising competition to benefit LLS’s mission: to find a cure for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. 

 Considering blood cancer treatments expand beyond blood cancer, I am raising money in honor of all the babies, kids, and adults who are currently battling or have battled cancer. With a mom who’s a breast cancer survivor and a grandpa who’s a colon cancer survivor, I have witnessed firsthand the impact and value of medical treatments and therapies and am inspired every day to fight for more research.  

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. 

Here are some data points to inform you:  

• Every three minutes, someone is diagnosed with a blood cancer. Meanwhile, every nine minutes, someone dies from one. 
• More than 1/3 of blood cancer patients do not survive five years after diagnosis  
• LLS helped advance 57 of the 66 blood cancer treatment options approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) since 2017 
• Approaches for blood cancer are now being tested in clinical trials with other cancers and diseases, including brain cancer, breast cancer, diabetes, lung cancer, and skin cancer  

 
I truly hope you consider donating to my campaign! And remember, every dollar counts!