I am honored to participate in the 2019 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. I am proud to be raising critical dollars in honor of a young patient hero who is currently battling or is in remission from a blood cancer. Each dollar is a vote. The candidate team that raises the most money at the end of the seven weeks is named Student(s) of the Year. Our mission is to not only raise the most money but also to bring attention to blood cancers like leukemia, which is the most common form of cancer in children and teens.

My best friend and team member, Danielle, is a survivor of cancer. In December of 2015, Dani was diagnosed at age 14 with Stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Large B-cell Lymphoma. She suffered for a year before the doctors were able to find the cancer. Once it was found, chemotherapy took six months. It has been a long journey but she has been in remission for two and a half years and is doing much better! My pappou (grandpa), Panagiotis Leontsinis, sadly passed away from cancer. He was 75 years and 11 months when he was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's T-cell Lymphoma, and it only took the cancer 27 days before it fully took over his body. With donations from you, research can be done more easily to help find answers on how to cure cancer. It also helps with families going through this that may not be able to afford the costs of treatment like others. Every little bit counts!  

With donations from you, research can be done more easily to help find answers on how to cure cancer.

Since the early 1960s, 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.

We really are changing the face of blood cancer!

All donations are greatly appreciated and are tax deductible. They'll not only support LLS-funded research but will help provide critical information and support for patients, and support advocacy for laws to ensure patients can access the care and treatments they need.

Please visit our website often and bring friends who would also like to donate!

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

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