Today, more than 1.6 million Americans are fighting a daily battle with blood cancers, and every 3 minutes another person unwillingly joins the fight. I have been given the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to continue the battle and help those like me diagnosed with blood cancers. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has nominated me as a candidate in their 2025 Houston Student Visionaries of the Year fundraising campaign, and I could not be more excited to make a difference in the lives of patients across the country. 

The LLS mission is especially important to me because, as many of you know, I was diagnosed with High Grade B Cell Lymphoma on July 1st of 2022. I was fortunate enough to receive care at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston which has one of the best pediatric oncology units in the world. After five cycles of chemotherapy and roughly three months of in-patient treatment, I rang the bell on September 20th, 2022 to celebrate being cancer-free. Thanks to the high level of care I received, I was quickly able to return to my normal life. Although I had to take off the first semester of my sophomore year of high school to receive treatment, within months of ringing the bell I was able to return to school and resume lifting weights, wrestling, and playing football. The time I spent receiving treatment at Texas Children’s has inspired me to attend Johns Hopkins University in the fall and study pre-medicine. I will also play football at Johns Hopkins.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is the largest donor to blood cancer research in the nation. They have invested over $1.7 billion in research and are leaders in advancing breakthroughs in immunotherapy, genomics, and personalized medicine. These revolutionary new treatments originally discovered through blood cancer research are now being tested in clinical trials for other cancers. While there has been phenomenal progress, there is still so much more to be done. Cancer is still one of the leading causes of death in children and young adults.

I have assembled Team Mission: Possible to help me raise fundsto support programs at hospitals like Texas Children’s. I am proud to lead my campaign team and work towards our goal to raise $200,000 during the next 7 weeks - from Thursday, January 9th until Saturday, March 1st. Two years ago I raised over $50,000 as a team member. This year my personal goal as a Candidate is to raise $100,000. I would really appreciate your support in reaching this goal. 

Help be part of the cure and help my team compete in the Houston Student Visionaries of the Year campaign. For more information, please contact me at trace.langin@students.sths.org. For more information about LLS and Student Visionaries of the Year, please visit www.llsstudentvisionaries.org/.