Hello friends and family!

I am so excited to announce that I have been nominated to participate in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Students of the Year campaign. Students of the Year is a seven week competition for local high school students, where we fundraise and raise awareness for the mission of LLS: to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

I first became aware of LLS last year when my friend Bri Erbach took part in this campaign. I soon fell in love with their mission after learning that the research funded by LLS in not only helping blood cancer, but many other cancers and diseases like lung cancer, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and more. This especially meant so much to me because my family’s life has been so impacted by breast cancer.

During my freshman year of high school I found out that Martha, a second mother to me, had passed away because her breast cancer had returned. I hadn’t yet realized yet how much this loss would truly affect my life until I thought of her three beautiful and passionate children, ages 8, 10, & 12. That day they had lost their mother. Knowing how much I still relied on my own mother as a 17 year-old, this thought of not being able to sing with her in the car or rant about my school day was unbearable.

These kids, and their brave father Brett are often where I find strength when I am lacking. I remember their grace and peace in their time of misery. I remember laughing with the kids as we played hide and seek moments after their mother’s funeral, and Brett ensuring that I was okay even after he just lost his soul mate. They are my inspiration to fight and the reason I am SO excited to be participating in Students of the Year.

I don’t want any other family to endure a lost like that, so my team, Beat 41, and I have set a goal to raise $17,000 over the next seven weeks to fund cancer research. We chose the name Beat 41, after learning that 41% of the U.S. population is diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime Almost half of our population is directly affected, making it almost impossible to escape the tragedies of a connection to this disease. I need your help in reducing that percentage. Please support team Beat 41 and make a donation that is meaningful to you.

You can make a donation here or write a check made payable to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, with my name on the memo line. All donations are tax-deductible and the Tax ID number is: 13-5644916.

With your support, my hope is that we can spread the word of LLS and raise as much money possible to go towards life-saving research. Thank you for your generosity and joining us in our fight to #Beat41.

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