My name is Peyton Moreau and I am a junior at Glenelg High School. I am proud to be a part of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Student Visionaries of the Year Campaign on my cousin Noah's team, working to raise money to help end cancer. My whole family has been personally involved for years with the LLS mission and fundraising campaigns and it started with my younger cousin's cancer diagnosis.

My cousin, Ella, was diagnosed with Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) when she was just 6 years old, a kindergartener. AML is an extremely aggressive and rare leukemia, having only about 500 kids diagnosed every year in the U.S.  Sadly, despite treatment about half of those children will relapse.  Ella happened to be one of those who relapsed.  Despite being a superstar and pushing through treatment that got her to remission, within a year Ella relasped and this time the next round of treatment would be the harshest that exists.  It was always a waiting game to see if Ella would be okay or not.  Her immune system was annihilated and she required a bone marrow transplant.

We were fortunate that Ella's brother Noah was a perfect match and was able to donate his bone marrow. At 10 years old, Noah bravely had the procedure done to remove bone marrow from his spine which was then given to Ella.  The transplant was successful and Ella remains in remission still almost 5 years later. The road to remission was long and terrifying, and 80% of children diagnosed with leukemia have long term health effects, so her journey is far from over. Ella received 114 chemo infusions, 41 blood and platelet transfusions, had 5 surgeries, had her immune system decimated 5 times and completely replaced once, and has spent about 200 nights in the hospital. She has suffered fevers, blood infections, rashes, biopsies, mucositis, allergic reactions, losing her hair twice, and has endured hundreds of pokes, tests, and procedures, most before the age of 8.

Everyone wins when cancer loses. Thank you so much for your reading my story and supporting this cause. I hope our efforts will help fund therapies and treatments that save lives. 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.

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