Each year, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Man & Woman of the Year fundraising campaign, and this year I was honored to be nominated as a candidate. I am writing today to ask for your support of LLS’s mission in its efforts to find cures for blood cancers and to assist patients and families as they battle this disease.

From March 8, 2023 – May 19, 2023, our team goal is to raise $100,000 which will go directly to LLS in support of its longstanding goal: a world without blood cancers. If we raise $100,000 by May 19, 2023, we can connect our team name to an LLS-funded research portfolio to honor our efforts to help people with blood cancers.

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 As a young girl, I had two uncles and two cousins who passed from blood cancer; at the time, I did not fully understand the gravity of it. Now that I am older it weighs heavy on my mind. More recently one of my best friends, Andrea Hill became gravely ill. After countless doctor’s visits for exhaustion and her white blood cells being low, then Pneumonia, she rushed herself to ER to find out she had Leukemia and slipped into a coma during COVID, Andrea was diagnosed with a rare form of blood cancer. Andrea’s cancer would have been terminal years ago but because of the research that LLS has done she was able to survive ad now is cancer free.

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.

There are many reasons to be proud to support LLS’s efforts. For instance, approximately 40% of new cancer therapies approved by the FDA since 2000 were first approved for blood cancer patients. And many of these LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now approved to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers, and noncancerous diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases. They are even being tested in clinical trials for patients with a range of cancers including lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers, and noncancerous diseases such as diabetes and lupus. This is an organization that is making an impact with the dollars it raises, and I am proud to be associated with LLS.

Make a tax deductible donation to Red's Warriors that will go 100% towards helping my team and I reach our goal.

I thank you in advance for supporting this incredible need. I will keep you posted on how the campaign goes. For now, I am grateful for your friendship and support.

Lizette Patterson

p.s. Does your company have a matching gifts program that might be willing to match your donation?

LIZETTE PATTERSON FOR VISIONARY OF THE YEAR

By Red's Warriors

LIZETTE PATTERSON FOR VISIONARY OF THE YEAR