Blake Kelly, Christian Kelly and Justin Emi have been nominated as candidates and are honored to participate in the 2019 Students of the Year program. This is an annual campaign for high school stundents throughout the country who compete to raise money. Our team, Cancer is Wack, is working to raise $50,000 in just 7 weeks.  If we hit our goal we will have the opportunity to name a cutting-edge research portfolio for pediatric blood cancer research!   If we raise the most money we will be named Students of the Year at the Grand Finale Gala on March 31, 2019.

Cancer is Wack is our name and our amazing team members include Andrew Hovis, Andy Nguyen, Brandon Schmidt, Jonathan Nguyen, Kirstin Sallstrom, Landon Gockman, Megan Emi, Nathan Fernandez, Tommy Tumbas, Will Stauffer and Will Campregher all representing Huntington Beach high schools. We are dedicated to raising money for pediatric blood cancer for this reason:

In August of 2011, when Blake was 9 years old, he was diagnosed with acute T-cell Lymphoblastic Lymphoma, which is a very aggressive type of Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.  He immediately had to have surgery and went through almost 3 years of chemo.  He initially spent 6 weeks at CHOC hospital and was not allowed to attend school or play sports.  He had to be homeschooled for 4th and most of 5th grades.  It was very hard, but he did not give up and kicked cancer's butt!!

43 children per day are diagnosed with some form of cancer. Leukemia is the most common cancer in children and the #1 cause of death.  Lymphoma is the 3rd most common cancer.  During his treatment Blake was enrolled in a clinical trial for a new type of lymphoma drug for adults.  This was being studied to see if it also helped children.  So he's kind of a human guinea pig.  We would like to see more money dedicated to pediatric cancer reseach so more kids, like Blake, can be cured of cancer!!  

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. 

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 generousity and support!

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