Thank you for visiting my page!

My grandma, “Jojo” was one of the most important people in my life and the loss of her has been one of my greatest challenges. For those of you who knew Joanne, I know you can agree with me when I say she was one of the smartest women and was so passionate about devoting her time to others through volunteering and public service. Growing up, Jojo and her husband, my Grandpa Earle, lived less than 10 minutes away from us so we spent so much quality time with them. Jojo always encouraged me to be a strong independent woman and I am sure she is loving all of the work that I have been doing throughout the past few years to give back to others. Unfortunately, our family lost our Grandpa Earle to CNS lymphoma and Jojo passed away from a rare kind of lymphoma called mycosis fungoide. They were seriously both the glue that held our family together and watching them struggle with such terrible diseases was incredibly hard. We all miss them so much.

With that being said, I am so proud to share with you that I have accepted my nomination, and I am participating in The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Student of the Year Campaign in memory of my grandma Jojo. The Student of the Year campaign is an intense, 7-week fundraising competition that begins January 13th and concludes with a Grand Finale on March 6th.  All the money that is raised goes directly to the largest blood cancer research program in the nation, LLS, to fund cutting-edge research and treatments. In fact, the treatments that LLS is funding benefit non-blood cancer patients too. More than 40% of new cancer treatment drugs approved by the FDA since 2004 started as blood cancer drugs are now being applied in other forms of cancer. I have set an extremely ambitious fundraising goal, but I have Jojo’s legacy as the motivation behind my campaign, and Jojo herself even requested that memorials should be donated to the LLS in her name. 

Like I mentioned, November 23, 2015, marks the five-year anniversary of Jojo’s passing. This feels like the perfect time to celebrate her life and legacy with a giant gift to LLS in her name. She is driving me forward and making my commitment and your support even more important. In addition, my 18th birthday is in March, and I want to close out my high school years by doing something significant and powerful. I want this chapter of my life to be all about making a difference and giving back to others. 

I sincerely ask you to join me in taking action by making a donation to LLS, whether be in honor of someone you have lost to cancer or in honor of Joanne Grueskin. I know that together we can make a true difference in the lives of cancer patients and their families. 

I thank you in advance for any and all of your support that you give me! 

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