OUR STORY: 10 years ago I was diagnosed with leukemia. Without effective treatment I would have had as little as five years to live. Today, thanks to the amazing, miracle-drug Gleevec—a pill I take every day—I am healthy and have a life that makes me feel like one of the luckiest people around. My sister, Melissa, is also a survivor. She was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma a year after my diagnosis (she was 27 and seven months pregnant at the time) and went through grueling treatments and ultimately a stem cell transplant. Today she, too, is cancer free. And we have five healthy children between us. We have been through a lot but we have so much to be grateful for. We are not only surviving, we are thriving. That’s why we’ve chosen to celebrate our cancerversaries (10 for me, seven post-transplant for my sister), by raising $100,000 for LLS, giving back to the organization that has given us so much.

OUR CAUSE: LLS’s mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. We are doing our fundraising as part of LLS’s Man & Woman of the Year campaign, a fundraising competition during which candidates raise as much money as possible in a 10-week span. The campaign kicks off March 8, 2012 and runs through May 17, 2012 and all money must be collected within that time. Because LLS does so much for patients like Melissa and me, I’ve set my goal at $100,000. That would enable us to sponsor a research grant in each of our names—pretty cool, right? Of course we can’t do this alone, which is where all of you come in….

HOW YOU CAN GET INVOLVED:

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