4/11/18: Thanks to the generosity of Dan Deverna, founder of Creative Financial Partners, and Jennifer Deverna, we have teamed up with Swig to put on a special event to close out my campaign on Wednesday, April 11th from 5-9pm!  100% of the proceeds from all raffles and vouchers will be donated to LLS!

For every $10 donated, you will receive a voucher for either an alcoholic drink or 2 coney dogs and fries. These vouchers can either be used at time of purchase or on a later date, expiring six months after the event. There will also be a raffle table set up with great prizes!

When I was eight years old, I lost my younger brother Elias to cancer. Now, I am participating in the Students of the Year program to help spread awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and to help reduce the number of families that have to witness family members suffer from blood cancers. Leukemia is the number one cancer killer for children under the age of twenty. With 77 cents of every dollar going straight to their mission, LLS is truly trying to ensure that patients are able to live longer and healthier lives.

For English at Perrysburg, we write a "quickwrite" everyday to kick off class. During this time, you typically have three minutes to write whatever comes to mind about a given prompt. I wanted to be able to express my feelings on a topic that I typically lock up: the loss of my brother Elias. At the end of the semester, I choose to take this entry and develop it into a full story. After years of remembering the events that took place the night he passed away, I decided to write "The Flatline in My Heart" from the point of view of Elias.

The Flatline in My Heart

After seeing dozens of people stand up and walk past the double doors, without returning, it was finally our turn. They ushered us into a room with one bed with some strange textured paper that crunched every time I moved. A woman entered the room and started placing random objects into my arm. My head continued to throb and whatever this lady was doing to me only escalated the pain. I tried telling them it was hurting me more – but all I could do was cry. I had been crying all night, so my new signs of pain did not differ to the people abusing me.

Just earlier today, I was jumping in my Pack ‘n Play, not worrying about anything other than the Cheerios sitting on my tray. I must have jumped a few too many times as my food from lunch started to come up. However, it did not stop. It kept coming and coming. My mom frantically picked me up and tried getting me to stop vomiting. My condition was not getting any better, so she grabbed me and ran out the door. After buckling me into my car seat, we weaved through traffic in our metal box on wheels until arriving at a monstrous building I had never seen before. While we just arrived five hours ago, it feels as if I have been here for years.

Older gentlemen wearing big white coats started to circle around me. Nothing was adding up. I was supposed to just have the sniffles. They started to look at pictures on the wall and deliberating on how to go about treating what was once thought to be the flu. I tried to screech, scream, anything to get their attention, as I knew they were supposed to be helping me, but my continued howl for help didn’t turn a head. I was just another baby with no sign of intelligence.

The unbearable pain climbing up my back and into my brain continued to aggrandize. Luckily, it seemed as if the magicians figured out what was wrong with me; they wheeled me into a cold, sterile room to which I had not been previously. They put me on the table, and the bright lights that stared down on me overtook me. I was asleep.

I woke up in a foreign place. No more pain. The yelling between doctors stopped. My parents were no longer crying over my bedside. Everything was quieter. When the doctors opened my brain, they released the pressure that was building inside me, but it also released me into a different realm. Heaven.

Thank you for taking your time to read my story, and I encourage you to consider donating to my campaign. Your donation will help combat blood cancers that are affecting many people right here in Northwest Ohio. 

I am honored to have been accepted as a candidate in the 2018 Students of the Year program, a seven-week initiative in which select high school students from around the country participate in a fundraising competition to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I am raising critical dollars in honor of a young patient hero who is currently battling or is in remission from a blood cancer. Each dollar is a vote. The candidate team who raises the most money at the end of the seven weeks is named Student of the Year. My mission is to not only raise the most money but also to bring attention to blood cancers like leukemia, which is the most common form of cancer in children and teens.

Since the early 1960s, five-year survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled. And many LLS supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are helping patients with other cancers and serious diseases. In fact, drugs first approved for blood cancers are now approved to treat patients with stomach cancers, skin cancers, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

We really are changing the face of blood cancer!

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. They'll not only support LLS-funded research but will help provide critical information and support for patients, and support advocacy for laws to ensure patients can access the care and treatments they need.

Please visit our website often and bring friends who would also like to donate!

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

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