A vital inspiration and hero for our LLS campaign is a family friend of ours named Tom Dellemann. His journey started when he was in the best shape of his life, just completing his 6th marathon. However, on January 18th, 2012, Mr. Dellemann was diagnosed with T-cell prolymphocytic leukemia, a version so rare there are only 15-20 cases of it in North America per year. The most inspiring thing to me about Mr. Dellemann was he never let the suffering he was going through stop him from enjoying his life. The minute that he went into remission, Mr. Dellemann began training for another marathon! He reached out specifically to those in charge of the Boston Marathon, asking for special permission to be able to run in the race, calling it his ‘adult Make A Wish.’ Mr. Dellemann got his wish and ran in the Boston Marathon in 2013! Unfortunately, this was the year of the Boston Marathon bombings, and he had to stop a mile away from the finish line. I’m sorry to say that after two years of battling Leukemia, Mr. Delleman passed away on January 6, 2014. I recently was able to sit down and talk with his wife, Julie. What is most special to me is that 4 months after Mr. Dellemann’s passing, Mrs. Dellemann ran the Boston Marathon in honor of her husband and finished for him. 

Mr. Dellemann was a very big supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, putting together his own fundraiser for them during his lifetime. After hearing the effects of blood cancer more first-hand, I am more determined than ever to help raise as much as our team can for LLS research as well. I hope our work with LLS can help spare future families from the incredible pain and loss they have endured.

Want to hear more about the Dellemann Family's story? Click here to go to their Caring Bridge website!

Hi! My name is Emily Groszczyk and I am a sophomore at Pewaukee High School! I am involved in Softball, Swim, Mock Trial, Student Senate, and Key Club!  I am so excited and honored to be a candidate with my friend Khadijah for the Students of the Year Campain! Even over the last couple of weeks, I have been overwhelmed with the amount of work that LLS is doing to not just to fight blood cancer, but to find breakthroughs that apply to cancer as a whole. 

The motivation for my campaign is my grandma. She passed away from ovarian cancer before I was born, before my parents were even married. Even though I didn’t know her, I still grieve the relationship that I could have had with her. I can see how her death has left a hole in our family to this day. I have been told stories of the incredible, loving woman she was and about the legacy she left behind, but I never was able to truly know her. My hope is that fewer and fewer families will have to go through the pain of losing a mother, husband, or son to cancer so that our loved ones are not a mystery to us. I would rather be creating memories with the people I love than have them recounted back to me years later.

The legacy of those in my community who have fought cancer, sometimes not always winning that battle, is my inspiration for being apart of LLS. This has translated into our team name being Team Legacy. 

I am so excited about these upcoming seven weeks to see how much of a blow we can have against cancer! Our team's goal is to raise $20,000! Khadijah and I will be updating our pages regularly to let you all know about our progress. Thank you all for your generosity and support already!

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.

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.