My name is Calvin Gassen. I decided to join this LLS fundraising team because I have been affected by cancer in a number of ways. In 2018, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic colorectal cancer. He went through chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery over the next eight months. It has been a tough road, but he is currently doing well. However, he goes in for scans and checkups every three months because of the threat of it returning. Physically and emotionally, this has changed the look of our family routine and life. We've learned that it is important to ask for help, and to make healthy choices every day. Also, two grandparents had cancers of their own: one of my grandmas previously beat breast cancer twice and battled through but continues to get scans, and my grandfather beat lymphoma but was left with lasting effects from the chemotherapy. These stories aren't unique; everyone knows someone affected by cancer. With your help, we can try and beat this together. 

I am honored to participate as a team member 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 proud to support my candidate and am 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 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.

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.

Checks can be written out to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - Calvin Gassen to donate to my page. 

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.