March Blog Post

 TOTAL HOURS: 3 hours

Leukemia and Lymphoma Society: 3 hours

I volunteered for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society LLS Student Visionaries of the Year Grande Finale to help organize the event. Student Visionaries of the year is a leadership program for High School Students. This event involved students from all over Lousiana, with 15 teams competing to raise funds and awareness for LLS's mission to overcome blood cancers. It is a 7-week program, that culminates with the Grand Finale event which was a gala with a silent auction, and a live program announcing the winners. 

LLS's goals and values resonated with me as they strive to invest billions of dollars into cancer research and provide free educational resources and programs for patients. I personally have family who has been through chemotherapy and struggled with the difficulties of cancer treatment and the uncertainty that comes with a diagnosis. Thus, participating in this event, and helping provide resources and education about blood cancer made me realize how little is truly known about these diseases, which are quickly becoming the highest cause of death in North America. My personal attachment to the importance of funding cancer research stems from my personal experience as well as my involvement at McGill University with the Goodman Cancer Research Center, where my professors carried out their research. Volunteering at this event reignited my passion for helping cure cancer, and promoting the education of younger generations concerning this deadly disease, and how to mitigate avoidable risk factors and increase screenings for common types of cancers. 

It brought me great joy to see how the New Orleans and Lousiana communities came together on the night of this event from the organizers to the volunteers, and the donors and families of the high school students who raised these funds, as well as witnessing survivor stories of children in remission who were cured of leukemia with the support of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Participating in this event was a moving experience and a brilliant opportunity that I am happy to share with my peers. It also ignited a new passion for preventive medicine and the importance of healthcare education within the community. 












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