Every year, over 1.7 million people are diagnosed with cancer. Approximately 50,000 people will lose that battle just to blood cancers alone. That means every hour, 6 lives are lost. However, there is research being done to lower these statistics. I’m proud to be part of team 6 Lives Per Hour (6LPH) for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Students of the Year campaign. 

I am honored to participate as a team member for the 2020 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. LLS is a nonprofit health organization that assists in funding blood cancer research and providing education and patient services. To this day, they have invested nearly $1.3 billion dollars toward groundbreaking research. LLS helped advance 46 of the 53 blood cancer treatment options approved by the FDA since 2017! The Students of the Year campaign is a 7-week philanthropic competition in which local high school student teams seek to raise awareness and funds for blood cancer research. This year, my team is determined to reach our goal of raising $50,000, but we need your help to do so!

This organization holds a special place in the hearts of my family. In 2004, my aunt’s father, Azam, passed away after he was diagnosed with leukemia 3 years prior. Unfortunately, he was never able to meet all of his grandchildren, for he was untimely taken away from this world. My grandmother also suffered from leukemia, and it was one of the factors that led to her death in 2014. 

With the research that LLS has funded and continues to fund, my family members may have lived on. 

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, thank you for your support!

Sincerely,

Zayd Ali

Team 6 Lives Per Hour

m.zayd.ali@gmail.com

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