First off let me say that I am 14 years old and I am CANCER FREE! So I don't look like this now, but I had to share this photo with you. This is one of the more disturbing pictures of me during my 3 1/2 year treatment for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I was 11. It was a few days after Christmas. I was in the hospital for Christmas Eve but was able to spend the next couple of days home with my family. And then I started having stroke symptoms. This picture is of me before I went in for the MRI that proved the doctors wrong. I wasn't having a stroke like they thought, It was chemotherapy toxicity. The chemo overload had seaped into my brain. They had to flush the chemo out of my body and I was lucky enough to come away from it with no brain damage.  I stayed in the hospital for a week to recover. I watched fireworks out of the window of my room on New Years Eve just like I did on the 4th of July when I had my appendix out (also due to chemo). I don't like this picture as much as you, but I had to share it because this is the reality of the side effects from the treatment that saved my life. And this is why I am running for LLS' Student Visionary of the Year. 

Chemotherapies that are used in treatment like mine were originally created in 1978 for adults, not children. It is critical that newer, safer medications are approved for treatment. The side effects of these older medications for kids are numerous and life threatening. Losing your hair and getting puffy from steroids are minimal worries compared to brain injuries, bone death, cognitive delays and going blind. These are just some of the problems chemotherapy treatment has caused my friends. These are kids I personally know that had the same treatment I did. Surviving this illness and treatment and witnessing how some weren’t as lucky has made me passionate about raising money to fund research to find a better cure for blood cancer and improve the quality of life for patients after treatment.

I have been part of this campaign for the past two years as a team member and Honored Hero, but this year I have been nominated as a Candidate and will be running against other students from around NYC for this very important title. With my partner Siobhan O’ Sullivan, who I met in the hospital and is also a survivor, our goal is to raise $100,000 in the seven week campaign that starts January 26th and runs through March 15th, 2024.

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!

11/14/23 

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