I have signed up to save lives with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and am working to raise as much as possible over the next 7 weeks as part of Kiersten Snapkoski's Student of the Year Campaign. Every dollar raised counts as one vote for my campaign. The candidate(s) whose team tallies the most votes earns the prestigious title of Student or Students of the Year. Will you help Kiersten earn that title?

I am joining Kiersten & LLS in memory of my mother-in-law, Lynn Thomas, 56; my grandmother, Martha Tuck, 71; and my cousin, Andy Bailey, 18.  

As you know, everyone wins when cancer loses. Among many other friends and colleagues who I have seen put cancer to shame, I am joining Kiersten in HONOR of my grandma, Sue Bailey, who recently battled and won her fight against lymphoma, and Drew Snapkoski, Kiersten's brother and my son's best friend, who was diagnosed with leukemia when he was only five years old.  

Our neighbors, turned friends, turned family -- the Snapkoski’s have had to endure more than any family ever should.  Cancer is bad; childhood cancer is worse.  For three years, Drew battled this terrible disease, and though he was victorious in the battle, the long-term war still rages on.  Drew, Kiersten, and the entire Snapkoski family are the most loving, kind, and generous people you would ever meet.  They have turned Drew’s diagnosis into a mission -- to help, support, provide for, and CURE those who are battling cancer.  It is for them, I have a personal goal to raise $12,500 for the Leukemia & Lymphoma society.  

Thanks to your support, my efforts will help fund therapies and treatments that are saving lives. Over the years, support from people like you has been responsible for the blood cancer advancements that have doubled, tripled, and in some cases quadrupled the survival rate for some blood cancers.

Many LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are also now used to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers and are in clinical trials for patients with lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers. And LLS-funded drugs like targeted therapies and immunotherapies are now saving thousands of lives every day.

We really are getting close to our goal of a world without blood cancers!

All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible. They'll not only support LLS research, but patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services as well.

Please visit my website often and tell 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