When Kris was diagnosed, we didn't know where to turn.

Four years ago, my sister Kris was diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma — a rare, aggressive blood cancer most people, including us, had never heard of. We did what any family does: we searched. We searched for answers, for specialists, for treatment options, for other patients who understood. What we found was a scattered landscape — general lymphoma resources, outdated forums, hopeful headlines about clinical trials we couldn't figure out how to access. There was no single place built for MCL patients and the people who love them.

We were a family trying to navigate a diagnosis together, and we realized something quickly: if it was this hard for us — with a lawyer and a healthcare professional in the family — it was harder for everyone else.

That's why we helped build MCLA.

The Mantle Cell Lymphoma Alliance is the only nonprofit in the world dedicated exclusively to MCL. It was founded by patients, caregivers, and family members who lived what we lived and decided the next family shouldn't have to start from zero. Every one of our seven co-founders — including Kris and me — is personally connected to this disease. We have no paid staff. We operate entirely virtually. And in our first months, we've built a Scientific Advisory Board, launched MCLA Voices to gather patient experiences, partnered with peer organizations like Imerman Angels and Lymphoma Research Foundation, and started reaching patients in the US, Canada, the UK, France, and Australia and beyond.

MCLA exists to do four things: help patients understand and navigate MCL, amplify the patient voice, support the research that will change outcomes, and make the entire MCL ecosystem work better together.

From Kris

Four years ago, I became the patient. I had spent almost 25 years as a physician assistant taking care of other people. Suddenly, I was the one with an aggressive, incurable blood cancer. The years that followed brought treatment, remission, relapse, more treatment, radiation and ultimately CAR-T. On June 4, 2024, I received Tecartus CAR-T at MD Anderson in Houston.

CAR-T nearly killed me. I developed severe neurologic toxicity, had seizures and was unconscious for days. I needed dozens of blood and platelet transfusions, lost 45 pounds and spent nearly three months in Houston. When I finally came home I couldn't walk, get out of bed, or take care of myself.

But I came home. Today, more than two years later, I'm still in remission.

Somewhere along the way, the question Karen and I kept asking changed from “What happens to me if my cancer comes back?” to “What happens to the next person who is diagnosed?” How do they find the right specialist? How do they understand treatments that are changing incredibly quickly? How do they find clinical trials? How do they know what information to trust? And how do we make sure patients and caregivers have a voice in the research and treatments that will determine their futures?

I don't know what the future holds for me with MCL. But I know I'm still here. And I can do something with the time I've been given.

I want the next person diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma to feel a little less lost than I did.

That's my part of Two Sisters, One Mission.

September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month — and it's personal for us.

September is when the blood cancer community comes together, and this year it holds three dates that feel almost made for this campaign: Karen's birthday on September 12, World Lymphoma Awareness Day on September 15, and September 23 — both Rare Cancer Day and Kris's birthday. For our family, another birthday means the world to us.

Two sisters. Two birthdays. One mission.

This September, we're asking the people who know and love us to help us give the next family what we couldn't find four years ago. Every gift helps fund MCL-specific education, patient resources and navigation, patient and caregiver engagement, and the research and collaboration that can change what an MCL diagnosis means. Ultimately giving those with MCL more tomorrows.

Our family will match every dollar you give, up to $30,000.

$25 becomes $50.
$100 becomes $200.
$500 becomes $1,000.

Every gift is doubled. Every person who participates becomes part of what we're building.

And every gift supports a community that has never before had an organization focused entirely on them.

Two sisters. One mission. Please stand with us.

Two Sisters, One Mission

Fighting Mantle Cell Lymphoma — together, for every patient and family