Dear Friends and Family,

Bryan and Paula's story:  Our daughter, Alivia (Livi,) who as many of you may know was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 9, has been nominated as a candidate for Leukemia Lymphoma Society (LLS), Student of the Year.  She has composed her team, wiLLSon, to help raise funds for LLS while competing with nine other teams over a 7 week period starting on January 10^th.  We have set a team goal of raising $20,000 to go towards making cancer a thing of the past.  We are particularly excited about the advancement of targeted therapies that are custom built to each individual to work with the body to battle cancers instead of against the body like chemo. It was surprising for us to hear that LLS’s research supported 15 of the 18 FDA approvals for blood cancer last year alone.  Many of these drugs are first approved for use with blood cancers and are now in clinical trials for other cancers like, brain, breast, kidney, lung, ovarian, prostate as well as arthritis and diabetes.  I would be surprised to hear of anyone who doesn’t know someone affected by one of these diseases.

Alivia's Story: As many of you may know, I was diagnosed with Leukemia when I was only nine years old. It started off with a simple pain in my foot however, after a few days it became unbearable. I was no longer able to sleep or speak, all I could do was scream in pain. When we arrived at the hospital I was given every pain medicine available yet nothing seemed to work. When the hospital called later that day my mom stepped outside. I watched as she collapsed to the ground crying as she was told her child had cancer.

The rest is a blur. All I remember is asking the doctor if I am going to lose my hair. I didn't yet know that losing my hair would be the least of my worries. I spent the majority of the next two years in the hospital fighting for my life. I am now 17 years old and proud to say I am five years cancer free.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society gives me hope that one day no child will have to go through what I did but they can’t do it alone! Please click this link Fire with Fire Video to learn more about what LLS is doing for others

By donating generously, you are helping to fund research which will help families around the world. My goal is to reach $20,000 and although it may be a challenge, it is worth every bit of the effort.

Let's make cancer a thing of the past!

Thank you for your support,

Alivia, Paula & Bryan Clay

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

P.S. Does your company have a matching gift program that might be willing to match your donation? If so, please let me know! Email with any questions you may have about this or the campaign!

Tax ID # for LLS is 13-5644916