Dear Family and Friends,

I am honored to have been nominated as a member of Team ConCUREing Cancer for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Students of the Year 2022 Campaign. Students of the Year is a seven-week fundraising campaign for highschool students to raise money for cancer. Until March 3, teams across New York City are focusing their efforts on raising money to support the fight against leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, and Hodgkin's Disease.

LLS is the world’s largest nonprofit health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, and since its start in 1949, LLS has invested more than $1.3 billion into groundbreaking research. Each charitable dollar you contribute to our campaign adds to that number since 100% of the funds raised go directly to LLS to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Not only is LLS helping patients with blood cancers, but it has funded more than 60% of the blood cancer therapies being used to treat other types of cancers. Of the 39 new cancer fighting drugs approved by the FDA in the past 10 years, 19 were initially developed for blood cancers.

As a part of Students of the Year, my team and I are raising funds to celebrate Nicholas Mauceri, LLS’s 2022 Honored Hero. Nicky was diagnosed with leukemia when he was three. After undergoing treatment, he is now in remission and returning to family movie nights, playing with friends, and learning about science and animals. 

I joined LLS because it provides me with the opportunity to actively impact the lives of children with cancer by fundraising for the research that could help cure them. I want to make the world a better place by using the resources that I have to advocate for those who are too ill to advocate for themselves. Every donation gets us one step closer to achieving this incredibly important goal. 

As I learned more and more about how crucial LLS is in enhancing the lives of people such as Nicholas, I understood just how important it is to aid LLS’s mission. All of us have been touched by cancer in some way. Whether a close family member, friend, or even acquaintance, all of us know someone who has battled cancer, and we have witnessed firsthand, or even experienced ourselves, the excruciating toll it takes on them - physically, emotionally, and financially. Today, my team and I have decided to take a stand.

Our campaign goal over this seven-week period is to raise a minimum of $100,000. Please join us to help support the efforts of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by making a tax-deductible donation. I thank you in advance for supporting this incredible cause, and remember, every bit counts. To put your donations into context: $100 helps fund the training of volunteers who provide peer support to patients and their families around the country; $200 helps fund general lab supplies for one week, allowing researchers funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society to conduct critical blood cancer research; $1,000 helps fund one day of nurses providing patients and caregivers with clinical trial search navigation and support through LLS’s Clinical Trial Support Center; and $5,000 helps support a one-day, free regional blood cancer education conference for patients, survivors, caregivers, family members and healthcare professionals.

These donations are crucial, because in the time that you’ve read this letter, six people have received the dreaded news that they have cancer. In the time that you’ve read this letter, two more people have died. Right now, you can contribute by donating at the link below, so that together, we can conCURE cancer.  

Thank you for your support, and please spread the word,

Annika Melwani

Team ConCUREing Cancer 

PS Please reach out to at gmcivor24@spenceschool.org ,  ephillips24@spenceschool.org , and   amelwani25@spenceschool.org if your company/company you work at might be willing to sponsor our campaign. Additionally, if you’re eligible for your company’s matching gift policy, it is an incredible way to multiply the money we raise.