In 2017, local San Diego fifth grade student, Caden Timmer, was diagnosed with a blood cancer - Acute B-cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Caden was immediately admitted to Rady Children’s Hospital and told he wouldn’t leave the hospital for at least one month and wouldn’t return to school, sports, or hanging out in public for one year. He spent days and nights at Rady getting multiple chemotherapies and other treatments. After one year Caden was able to return to 6th grade but his treatments continued for 3.5 years after his diagnosis.

After thinking his fight was over, in October 2021 of Caden’s sophomore year he relapsed with leukemia.  This time the treatments were much more aggressive and the chances of success much lower. But things had also changed for the better. Due to progress in the field, Caden's biopsies were more sensitive at detecting the cancer - 100x more sensitive! He also received CAR-T therapy - a treatment that wasn’t approved the first time he was diagnosed. In the end, Caden had a bone marrow transplant from his sister, Talia, who was a perfect match.

Caden’s actual course of treatment was directly affected by research funded by organizations like LLS.

Caden has been supported since day one by his good friends, Marshall Peelle and Cameron Tishler. Caden, Marshall, and Cameron have been nominated as candidates for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) 2024 Student Visionaries of the Year campaign. From now until March 15th, these boys will be leading team Cancer Crusaders in raising awareness of the research and advocacy being conducted through LLS.  This team of 20 supporters hopes to raise $100K to fund cutting-edge research leading to breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics, and personalized medicine that are improving and saving the lives of patients.  The work LLS does is close to every team member of Cancer Crusaders' hearts because of their relationship and journey with Caden.

Please consider joining this fight by making a donation. All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible. Please visit our website often and tell friends who would also like to donate!

Thanks to your support, our efforts will help ensure this generation is the last to see cancer.

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere, thank you!

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

Best,

Team Cancer Crusaders