I am honored to be a candidate 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. This campaign will run January 9 to February 28, 2020. Some of you may know me well, some of you know my parents and are close friends with them and still others of you knew and loved my grandfathers, Murray Shipley Monroe and David Emmett Culligan.  I am passionate about raising money to find a cure for blood cancer because both of my grandfathers died of Acute Myeloid Leukemia just months before I was born. I am also raising critical dollars in honor of a young patient hero, Izzy Kerr, who has been in remission from Leukemia for 10 years but sadly also lost her father to blood cancer at a very young age. My personal goal is to bring attention to blood cancers and help support families who have lost loved ones and who are battling cancer so that they do not lose loved ones as I have.  If I can raise the most money for LLS and it's mission at the end of the seven weeks, I will be named Student of the Year at the Grand Finale Gala on February 28, 2020. I would love your support!

The loss of relatives and friends is extremely hard for loved ones. Both of my grandfathers died within months of my birth.  I know it was really heartbreaking for my parents. And, my brothers and I never got the comfort of knowing them personally. Their absence has left a hole in all of our lives. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has made great strides to prevent and reduce chances of death from blood related cancers.  Since my Grandfather Murray and my Grandfather David passed away in 2002-2003, there have been successful treatments put into place for older adults with AML. On August 3, 2017, LLS released the exciting news that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved CPX-351 (VyxeosTM), an innovative combination of two chemotherapy drugs used to treat two high-risk subgroups of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Since the early 1960s, the 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. The money raised for LLS through my campaign for Student of the Year will be used directly for research and patient support. 

I'm trying to make a world without blood cancer!

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. 

Please remember to ask whether your company has a matching gift program!  By following up on a matching gift and sharing my webpage with others, you can have an even greater impact on the fight against cancer. 

On behalf of my family and blood cancer patients everywhere, thank you for your support!

Connor Monroe Culligan

If you have any questions about joining this campaign, becoming a corporate sponsor, advertising in the Grand Finale program or attending the gala, please contact my campaign manager (and Mom) Courtney Monroe Culligan at (303)562-4343 or courtneyculligan@yahoo.com.