Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Students of the Year
Students of the Year is a philanthropic leadership development program for exemplary high school students. During the campaign, participants foster professional skills such as entrepreneurship, marketing, and project management in order to raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).
The title “Student of the Year” is awarded to the candidate or co-candidates in each community that raise the most funds during the 7-week competition. (January 8 until February 28,2020)
Nova Medical Centers is proud to support LLS 2020 Student of the Year Campaign and we chose not only an exemplary student but also a fighter and survivor of cancer.
Introducing Ellie Fetner
“In May of 2015, when I was 11 years old, after testing negative for flu and strep and a week of fevers, headaches, a sore throat, bruising and fatigue, my Mom took me the to the Emergency Room for bloodwork. The test showed an alarming abnormality in my white and red blood cell count. So much so that I was immediately rushed to the Texas Children’s Hospital Emergency Room in an ambulance. A few terrifying days, a bone marrow biopsy, several blood transfusions, and a lot of blood tests later, I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I immediately began the 2 ½ year treatment. During that time I endured isolation, countless blood transfusions, platelet transfusions, spinal taps, 7 feeding tubes, a bone marrow biopsy and aspiration, 6 MRI’s, 40 days in the hospital, pneumonia, a port-a-catheter that was surgically implanted in my chest, memory problems, neurological problems, loss of mobility, loss of muscle control, loss of hair, anxiety, panic attacks, homebound school services my entire 6th grade year, physical therapy, occupational therapy, and enough chemotherapy pushed through my veins to kill fast growing cells, which in turn, could kill me too.
BUT…I did it! I made it through 858 days of horrific treatment. I survived. On September 15, 2017, I proudly rang the end of treatment bell!
Yes, I had blood cancer; but I also discovered I had the fight IN my blood AGAINST cancer and I’m not finished! I choose to still fight for those who have not yet been diagnosed. I choose to still fight for the mothers and fathers who will agonize as their child endures 858 days of treatment. I choose to still fight for the brothers and sisters who watch in fright as their sibling dies in front of them. I choose to fight for a cure, so nobody has to suffer what my family and I have suffered…. ever again.
So, I humbly ask for your support. Please donate for the countless thousands, who will not have a choice but to fight and those who may not be as lucky as me.”
Ellie
Nova Medical Centers is asking for donations to The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, on behalf of Ellie. Ellie is a survivor, but her story is not the only one. On average, 1 person is diagnosed every 3 minutes in the United States! Someone dies every 9 minutes.
Please click the button below to learn more about Ellie and to donate. Every donation supports the LLS in it’s mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.
Thank you everyone, in advance, for your donations.
Blood Cancer Facts & Statistics
- Approximately every 3 minutes one person in the United States (US) is diagnosed with a blood cancer.
- An estimated combined total of 176,200 people in the US are expected to be diagnosed with leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma in 2019.
- New cases of leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are expected to account for 10 percent of the estimated 1,762,450 new cancer cases diagnosed in the US in 2019.
- Prevalence is the estimated number of people alive on a certain date in a population who previously had a diagnosis of the disease. An estimated 1,399,180 people in the US are either living with, or are in remission from, leukemia, lymphoma or myeloma.
- Relative survival compares the survival rate of a person diagnosed with a disease to that of a person without the disease. The most recent survival data available may not fully represent the outcomes of all current therapies and, as a result, may underestimate survival to a small degree.
- Approximately every 9 minutes, someone in the US dies from a blood cancer. This statistic represents approximately 156 people each day or more than 6 people every hour.
- Leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma are expected to cause the deaths of an estimated 56,770 people in the US in 2019.
- These diseases are expected to account for 9.4 percent of the deaths from cancer in 2019, based on the estimated total of 606,880 cancer deaths.
*Data specified for “blood cancer” include leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma, and do not include data for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) or myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs)
Source LLS.org
