I am honored to participate in the SWFL 2020 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 have chosen to be a candidate in the SWFL 2020 LLS Student of the Year campaign because my friends have both been impacted by leukemia and lymphoma. My friend Kayleigh (who I view more as a sister) was diagnosed with leukemia at a very young age. She went through numerous years of treatment and thankfully went into remission around the age of 9. My other friend Isabella was diagnosed with lymphoma at the age of 17. Isabella also went through multiple treatments, and even a bone marrow transplant and she too, went into remission thanks to the life saving research funded by LLS.

Seeing my friends and their families go through such hard times really upset me. I wanted to do something, but felt as if there was nothing I could do at all. Now that I have found LLS, I feel as if I can finally help others. I want to help find a cure for cancer so that no one else has to experience the trauma and pain that cancer brings. If we work together, I know we will be capable of anything.

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.

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.

Thank you for donating and joining me & LLS to help save lives!