I am so excited to be a student candidate in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) 2022 Students of the Year (SOY) campaign, 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.

I am honored to participate in this campaign that personally means so much to me because in 2003, my grandfather, Stephen Pijar, Sr. passed away from a recurrence of lymphoma before I had the chance to meet him.  For four years he battled his way through cancer bravely enduring rounds testing, chemo, and treatments. My grandfather was determined from the day of his diagnosis to beat cancer using his degrees in science and over 30 year career in the US Public Health Service to study every development in treatment intending to win his fight. His positivity and determination to live inspired everyone around him to live every moment to the fullest. Through stories of my grandfather’s journey I became all too familiar with blood cancer and those who have been affected by it. I joined my fellow candidate, Megan O’Neil to attend Light the Night last fall and was proud to stand by all of the warriors, hear their stories, and help make a difference in finding a cure.  No child or adult should ever have to endure this terrible disease. I will forever fight for an end to blood cancer. This is why Megan and I have created “Team CUREit!”

“Team CUREit!” is dedicated to raising awareness and funds to help find a cure for blood cancer.  Please join me in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. Every dollar I raise counts as one vote and the candidate who gets the most votes gets named Student of the Year. 

 We are changing the face of blood cancer! Will you join us?!

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 new exciting initiatives focusing on treatments for pediatric patients.

• LLS funded 43 of the 49 FDA approved treatments for blood cancer patients since 2017
• Since 2000, more than 40% of the new cancer therapies approved by the FDA started as blood cancer research
• In 2019, LLS established The LLS Children’s Initiative, a comprehensive $50 MILLION multi-year endeavor, to help children with cancer through every facet of LLS’s mission
• More than doubling our investment in pediatric cancer research grants and expanding education and support service for children and their families
• Advocating for and driving policies to accelerate the development of new treatments and break down barriers to care
• Launching LLS PedAL (Pediatric Acute Leukemia), a groundbreaking global precision medicine clinical trial in acute pediatric leukemia
• Creating the LLS National Patient Registry to improve quality of life, health outcomes for people living with blood cancers, and also increasing scientific knowledge about how COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines affects blood cancer patients.

LLS's continued advancements over the years, are responsible for the blood cancer survival rate doubling and tripling; in some cases, the survival rate has even quadrupled. LLS is making a difference in the world so no other patient or family has to experience blood cancer.

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. With your donation, you’re not only support LLS research but patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services as well. Together WE CAN FIND A CURE!

Please visit my fundraising webpage(s) often and pass along the link to family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, etc. who might donate!  I recognize I need lots of support to reach our fundraising goal!

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere I thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit www.lls.org

To finding a cure!
With much love & hope,
Eiley Depman