I am honored to have been nominated as a candidate for the 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 am excited to take on this challenge and raise critical dollars in honor of a young patient hero who is currently battling or is in remission from a type of blood cancer, and in memory of my grandmother who, unfortunately, did not survive the fight against cancer. The candidate team that raises the most money at the end of the seven weeks is named Student 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 grandmother suffered from breast cancer, and then cancer spread to her brain, spine, and other parts of her body. I have heard stories about how her passing away affected my family and how everyone felt helpless while she was battling cancer in her body. Through LLS, I have been given the opportunity of helping someone else. Although my grandmother did not have blood cancer, the research LLS has been doing is helping doctors and researchers find cures for other kinds of cancers and diseases because at the end of the day, it all starts in the blood.

Since the early 1960s, five-year survival rates for many blood cancer patients have doubled, tripled or even quadrupled. And 12 out of the 14 FDA approved therapies were supported by the LLS. Our work is not only changing the lives of blood cancer patients, but we are also helping patients with other cancers and serious diseases because everything starts at the blood. In fact, drugs first approved for blood cancers are now being approved to treat patients with stomach cancers, skin cancers, and autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

Beating cancer is in our blood!

Each dollar counts: 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. 

Cancer may have started the fight, but we will finish it!

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.