I am honored to participate in the 2019 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 be 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(s) 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.

When I was a little girl age 7 my parents were behaving strangely.  My Dad, (pictured above) had been feeling very sick for quite a long time and then started wearing a winter hat in the house all the time.  It was the springtime so it did not make sense to me. Later after i caught him with his hat off, i found out he was bald. He had cancer, stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma,  and was being treated with Chemo. He and my mom did not want me or my brother to know. My dad did well that first summer and was in remission by the time I entered 3rd grade.  We all thought he would stay in remission for a long time, maybe forever.

1 ½ years later the cancer came back.  My dad tried a new chemotherapy popular in europe. I missed a lot of school because I felt the need to be with him at every doctor's appointment and treatment, but I still kept up with good grades. I became very interested in what was constantly going on around him, and always wanted to learn more. We again hoped for the best and by the end of the treatments,  he was again in remission. This one didn’t last very long, by the following spring the cancer was back. Now he needed a stem cell transplant to get better. More chemo that summer, lots of it and he was bald again, which was not a good look for him. He needed a donor, his 2 brothers didn’t match and no matches were found in the USA. Thanks to Be The Match a young man from Germany was found to be the best possible match.  The transplant took place in Madison at UW Hospital in August. All was good for a month but then in September he became very sick. His body had rejected the transplanted cells which were supposed to save him. He lost a ton of weight and looked like Jack the Skeleton from The Nightmare Before Christmas. He had to spend a bunch of time in the hospital and miss work until Christmas. Thanks to the help of many great doctors and nurses, the medications started to work and he got better.  Today he is doing great and has been in remission for 5 ½ years, he is finally cured.

This long story was the reality for my brother & I, we had to mature quickly at a very young age and learn to live everyday to the fullest. Like many of you, I have witnessed first hand the debilitating effects that Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin’s Disease, and Myeloma can have on those who suffer from these blood cancers, and on the friends and family who care for and nurture their loved ones. I want to do everything possible to help out other families and kids who deal with blood cancers everyday,  so another little girl has her dad to hold onto forever.

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.