Hello! We are officially in week 2 of our campaign, and I would like to tell you more about my leaders, Kateling Shum and Anika Sheikh, and more about who they are and why theys tarted this cause. You can read more about myself on my prior post. 

     Approximately 40% of people will be diagnosed with cancer in their lifetime, an especially real and frightening chance of diagnosis for even the healthiest individuals. If there is a 40% chance of cancer diagnosis, it stands to reason that knowing a loved one who has cancer is an all too common, unfortunate occurrence. For my friend and classmate Anika Sheikh, these nightmares turned into her reality.
     “I found out my grandfather was diagnosed with stage two lymphoma. He passed away last year; he couldn't handle the chemotherapy side effects and he passed from the fatigue of it. He lives in a completely different country, so I never got to say goodbye to him,” Sheikh said. 
     Through her experiences, she realized that situations like these were heartbreaking realities for many and found a reason to persevere through it. Nominated for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Student of the Year competition along with her friend, Katelin Shum, Sheikh hopes that through this competition, they can help find a cure for these two cancers.
     In the competition, Shum and Sheikh are leading a team of fellow students from January 13 to March 19 in hopes of raising the most money possible to donate back to cancer research. With their efforts underway, they aimed to raise 80,000 dollars, all of which would be donated back to to fund cancer research and help improve the lives of patients who were already diagnosed with this disease. 
     They encourage anybody, no matter their age, to make a difference. “People think that they’re too young to donate, or too young to help. But they don't realize that something as small as just supporting someone’s efforts can do so much good,” Sheikh said.
     Although they acknowledge that an immediate solution to cancer is wishful thinking, Shum and Sheikh believe that small, sustained efforts like theirs will make a difference in the fight. After all, progress is never achieved by sitting idly. "We get closer to finding the cure for cancer every day. These campaigns and funds are also for the future, so no one has to worry about getting cancer ever again.” Shum said.
 

Dear Family and Friends,

This December, my father Fred Huang found a mass in his chest. As many of you may know, he successfully completed his procedure on July 13th and is officially cancer-free, marking 6 months since he completed his treatment. We were lucky enough to have skilled doctors on our side, as well as all of the support from our gracious friends, family, and our faith. It was a rocky mental battle, but I consider myself extremely lucky to have come out of this with a positive outcome and hope for the future. I know I am indebted for all the support from friends and family that have helped me through this all.

As for many patients like my dad, fighting cancer is far from a simple task, mentally and physically. However, scientific advancements have dramatically improved patients’s prospects. 

This brings me to the reason for my letter. Katelin Shum and Anika Sheikh, two classmates of mine, are candidates for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Students of the Year Campaign (Read more about the organization at lls.org) As a member of her fundraising team, I am asking you to consider donating to their cause. This money will support LLS’s mission, an organization driven to find a cure for blood cancers and improve the quality of life for cancer patients. 

My campaign team’s fundraising goal is to raise $80,000, between January 13th and March 6th. It is a lofty goal, but I am determined to leave my mark on the fight against cancer and willing to work hard to reach it. I cannot do it alone, I need your help. 

You can donate through my personal fundraising page that I have attached here. No donation is too small, or too large. Even a dollar would make a great difference: https://events.lls.org/sd/SDSOY21/ahuang1tv 

By supporting the many groups like LLS that are conducting research and spreading awareness, we can continue to make significant strides in the fight against cancer. Although I acknowledge that an immediate solution to cancer is wishful thinking, I believe that small, sustained efforts like these will make a difference in the fight. After all, progress will never be achieved from sitting idly. 

There are many ways to get involved with my efforts, so if you’re interested, just let me know! I can’t wait to share the exciting updates of the next 7 weeks with you. Stay tuned to see what my team and I are able to accomplish.

And as always, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support. Please feel free to reach out to me or contact me with anything you would like to let me know or ask me.

Sincerely,

Allison Huang

Thank you for visiting my fundraising page, welcome!

I encourage you to join me in supporting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) by making a donation to my fundraising campaign. By donating to LLS, you support the many facets of LLS’s mission work from investing in groundbreaking research, providing education and support to patients, and advocating at the state and federal level for legislation to help those living with cancer. My appreciation for your support cannot be overstated — each and every dollar donated to LLS brings us closer to our goal to end blood cancer and makes an impact for cancer patients and their families.

As a global leader in the fight to end cancer, LLS is committed to doing more for blood cancer patients and families than any organization in the world. LLS’s signature fundraising campaigns drive critical support for its mission, including a nearly $1.3 billion investment in cutting edge cancer research worldwide since it was founded in 1949. Since the 1960s, survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled, or even quadrupled.

Every facet of LLS’s mission – research, education and support, and policy and advocacy – work in harmony to put blood cancer patients and their families first. LLS has helped millions impacted by cancer throughout its more than 70-year history, even funding breakthrough blood cancer research to advance lifesaving treatments and cures that is now helping patients with other cancers and diseases. That is why at LLS we say that beating cancer is in our blood.

Please visit my website as often as you can and share it with everyone you know who would also like to join us in the fight against cancer. Together, we have the power, the passion and the resolve to achieve a world without blood cancer. All donations are tax-deductible.

On behalf of cancer patients and their families everywhere, I sincerely thank you for your support!

For more information about LLS, please visit lls.org