In the United States, someone is diagnosed with Leukemia or Lymphoma approximately every three minutes, according to Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, also known as LLS. To combat this, LLS aims to raise money every year to fund the fight against these cancers. They have already invested nearly $1.8 billion in research, which has contributed to many lives being saved so far. As seen in the graphic at right, LLS has been active for 75 years and helped 102,197 households n 2024 alone.
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was created out of the grief of a family that lost their teenage son due to blood cancer. Robbie Roesler de Villiers was diagnosed with leukemia in 1944 when he was only 16 years old. He passed from his cancer during the same year, as Leukemia was considered a hopeless disease at the time. Out of frustration by the hopeless mindset of the world when it came to Leukemia, Robbie’s parents Rudolph and Antoinette de Villiers began an organization, which is now Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. In the 1950’s, most patients with Leukemia died within three months of their diagnosis. In their 1955 annual report, the Foundation reported that Leukemia is 100% fatal. Now in 2025, according to LLS, the 5-year survival rate for leukemia is more than 70% and there are an estimated 456,481 people in the United States living in remission.
LLS is an organization that has pushed many experimental treatments and has worked to expand the medical field greatly. They also work to provide help for patients and families. There are priorities at LLS to help improve patient comfort, provide support for patient families, and even work to help reduce the burden of medical bills that families may face. With the struggle of fighting cancer already being enough, LLS believes in helping families that cannot have the added stress of other burdens. On the fundraising side of LLS, they work to raise money to support blood cancer treatments and also use that money to help families going through blood cancer fights.
Each year, LLS holds a “Visionary of the Year” fundraising project, where high school students can be team leaders or members of teams. This year, Kilbourne Junior Jessica Pugh is leading a team working toward supporting LLS and their research. In her words, “LLS is a nonprofit that fundraises for blood cancer research, patient support, and advocacy and policy. [Student Visionaries of the Year] is a competition where teams made of student fundraisers via the LLS website aim to raise as much money and awareness for Leukemia and Lymphoma as possible.”
Pugh shares, “I was on a team last year and raised a couple hundred dollars. The team raised about $12,000 and understanding that I was a part of a meaningful donation was very rewarding. I am also very interested in cancer research and plan to study radiation therapy where I’ll be devising plans to conquer individual cancer treatments.” Because of students like Pugh, it is possible for programs such as LLS to function and thrive. Also, Pugh’s passions prove hopeful for a vision of our world where cancer does not have the power or influence that it does today. The work that LLS does with their Student Visionaries project is crucial to the world of cancer research because it fosters interests like Pugh’s and ensures that a generation of people that care about fighting cancer is rising up.
For her team this year, Pugh has the goal of raising $10,000. While she has this goal, she explains that “the ultimate goal is to raise awareness in the community and educate people about blood cancer and ways they can help.”
The sad reality that we face is that blood cancer has a way of being intertwined with many people’s lives. There are students at Kilbourne that have parents and close friends that have battled blood cancer, and there are even Kilbourne students that have battled blood cancer themselves. For everyone today, the trace of blood cancer isn’t far, and it is crucial that awareness is continuing to rise and students are made aware of the ways they could potentially help decrease the effects of blood cancer in lives around the community.
The most practical way to help the fight against blood cancer is to donate. A small donation can go a long way in the fight against blood cancer. When considering the progress that LLS has made since its origin in the 1950’s, it is made clear that they can accomplish real success in this field. Also, despite a tremendous amount of progress, there is still work to be done. For Pugh’s campaign, they are fundraising through personal asks, mostly through emails and texts. Pugh and her team will also be hosting various restaurant fundraisers. It is easy to mention the LLS fundraisers at restaurants that are teaming up with Pugh and her team. A portion of money spent at these restaurants on the day of the fundraiser will be contributed to Pugh’s fundraiser. To be aware of when these fundraisers are happening, follow the page “themarrowmission” on Instagram for updates.
If monetary donations are not an option, the best thing to do is to spread the word about these issues. Blood cancer plays such a big role in the world today, yet there are ways to help this. Students can continue to become educated on the issues with blood cancer today, and also spread this news to their friends and family.
If wishing to donate, the link to Pugh’s fundraising page is Here
