Hi! My name is Katia Katsari-Hoefer and this year I am working with my soccer team, VA Union For a Cure (FC), to become Student Visionaries of the Year! We decided to start this ground-breaking journey with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) to help find a for cure blood cancers including leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease, and myeloma!

I have been affected by cancer through family members. My mom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer in 2018, which had spread to her lymph nodes. While she assured me, my brother, and my sister that the cancer was very treatable, it was hard to see her go through surgery and radioactive iodine treatment. She has to be monitored for the rest of her life to make sure the cancer doesn’t return. More recently, my grandmother was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma, which is treatable, but not curable. Mantle cell lymphoma is a rare non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which is a type of blood cancer that spreads through the lymph nodes. My grandmother’s treatment includes intravenous chemo and immunotherapy, which she has to keep taking as long as she lives. The treatment isn’t a cure but it will help give us more time with my grandmother. I am grateful for that but my hope is to find a cure for this terrible disease.  

My team and I want to make an impact and help loved ones like my grandmother who have been affected by cancer all over the world. We can’t find the cure ourselves, but we can do our part by raising money so that scientists can. 

While this is a long journey, every donation will help us reach a world without cancer. Every donation makes an impact and no donation is too small. Please consider helping me and my teammates to accomplish our goal. All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible.  Please share with friends who would also like to donate! 

I appreciate your help and thank you in advance for any help you can give! Thank you for joining this journey to find a cure with me!

Katia Katsari-Hoefer 

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

 

Visionaries look to the future—and see infinite possibility.
They challenge the status quo—and make the impossible possible.
They boldly imagine a better world – and lead the charge to create it.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society was built on that same vision - of a better world - one without blood cancers.

I am a visionary; I have a vision for a world without cancer, but I need your help.

This year, I’m proud to be a part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign, working to raise as much as possible for LLS’s mission.

As a global leader in the fight against blood cancer, LLS:

• Funds cutting-edge research leading to breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics and personalized medicine that are improving and saving the lives of patients
• Provides free education and support for blood cancer patients and families, including personalized, one-on-one support, assistance with identifying and enrolling in clinical trials, and more.
• Mobilizes thousands of advocates to drive policy changes that accelerate the development of new cancer treatments and break down barriers to care.

Please consider joining this fight by making a donation. All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible. Please visit my website often and tell friends who would also like to donate!

Thanks to your support, my efforts will help ensure this generation is the last to see cancer.

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere, thank you!

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