My name is Lydia Silverstone and I have been given the opportunity of a lifetime to help others.

Each year The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Students of the Year fundraising campaign, and I was honored to join this year’s efforts as one of Florida’s Student of the Year Candidates for Team SilverStone. Over the next 7 weeks, I will be working to raise money and awareness for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and their mission to cure for blood cancers. It’s an honor to be a part of such an outstanding group of fellow students, but an even larger honor to be able to work for the patients, survivors and their families. However, if I do win the scholarship for the Student of the Year, I will give the scholarship back to the Society, as I believe that we should all help each other, and the reward for me is being able to help the people diagnosed with cancer and saving their lives.  I am writing today to ask for your support of LLS’s mission in its efforts to find cures for blood cancers and to assist patients and families as they battle this disease.

From January 17th–March 9th, our team goal is to raise money which will go directly to LLS in support of its longstanding mission to find cures and ensure patients access to the treatments they need. 

I joined the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, because I believe that we should all help each other. I believe that each person can help another person and I have been given the opportunity to help people that are fighting cancer. Like many of you, I know the debilitating effects that leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma can have on those who suffer from these blood cancers, and on the friends and family who care for and nurture their loved ones.  In fact, leukemia still causes more deaths than any other cancer among children under the age of 20.

There are many reasons to be proud to support LLS’s efforts.  LLS has invested $1.2 billion in cutting-edge research, funding nearly all of today’s promising advances. They have provided free information, support services, and financial assistance to over 30,000 people last year. Their network of more than 100,000 volunteers advocate for state and federal policies that benefit patients.

As a result of everything, since the 1960s, 5-year survival rates for blood cancers have increased by 2x, 3x and even 4x. Since 2000, more than 40% of the new cancer therapies approved by the FDA are for blood cancer. LLS funded 15 of 18 FDA approved treatments in 2017. LLS supported 227 research grants, a $211 million multi-year commitment in 2017. Blood cancer research leads to treatment for other cancers and serious diseases and LLS funded more than 60% of those therapies.

There is another reason to be proud of LLS. Of the 39 new cancer-fighting drugs approved by the F.D.A. in the past 10 years, 19 of them were initially developed for blood cancers and many had funding from LLS.  Of those 19, ALL of them show promise for treating other cancers:

• Gleevec, used for patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), was recently approved to treat stomach ulcers and is in trials for breast, prostate and ovarian cancer treatments.
• Velcade, that targeted drug to treat patients with myeloma or mantle cell lymphoma, is also in trials for people with kidney, lung and thyroid cancers.
• Rituxan, the first approved targeted cancer drug that was initially used for non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients, is used in 11 blood cancer and rheumatoid arthritis treatments.

This is an organization that is doing the right things with the dollars it raises, and I’m proud to be associated with LLS.

Our efforts and the funds raised will help fund the therapies and treatments that save lives and improve the quality of life for those impacted and living with blood cancers. Over the years, support from people like you has been responsible for the blood cancer advancements that have doubled, tripled, and in some cases quadrupled the survival rate for certain blood cancers.

We really are changing the face of blood cancer!

This is where you come in. Please make a tax deductible contribution to LLS through this campaign website.  You will receive a confirmation of your donation by email and I will be notified as soon as you make your donation. Please visit our website often and bring friends who would also like to donate!

On behalf of blood cancer patients everywhere, thank you very much in advance for supporting this incredible need! Your donation truly makes a difference and with your help, we’re one step closer to a cure for blood cancers.

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

Sincerely,

Lydia Silverstone

This is Carlos; he was diagnosed with ALL in 2011. With the help of LLS, in 2014, he had his last chemo treatment and remains in remission! We, together, can help people like him!

THANK YOU VERY MUCH!