I am honored to be nominated as a candidate for the 2020 Students of the Year campaign, 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 and their research toward finding a cure. The team that raises the most money at the end of the seven weeks is named Student of the Year. I am proud to support the honored hero, Harlow Millies, as she and her family are very close to mine. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia two and a half years ago when she was 7 years old. As of December 11, 2019 she rang the bell at Childrens hospital signifying she had finished her treatment. Even though she conquered leukemia, she will have to fight another battle for the rest of her life; the long term effects of the treatment she underwent. Through this campaign, 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.

The reason I accepted my nomination was simply because I can; I am not sick or undergoing treatment for a disease. I was given the opportunity to change someone else's life for the better. I can donate my time and efforts in order to support research towards bettering the lives of others affected by this disease. Students of the year will be an experience I will remember for the rest of my life, knowing that I am making a lasting impact on those within my community.

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 will 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.