The Student of the Year Campaign runs for 7 weeks from February 15th to April 5th.

Check out our National Capital Area SOY Teams in the local news!

• High School Students Across the Country are Saving Lives and Changing The World! – Washingtonian
   
• High Schoolers Work to Raise $50K for Cancer Research – LoudounNow (Team LoCo on Cancer)
   
• W-L Students Participate In National Fundraiser to Combat Blood Cancer in Memory of Friend – ARLnow (Team Juliana)
   
• Governor  Hogan attends BBQ Joint fundraiser for Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - (Team Fire Hearts)
   
• The Madeira School Students Win Students of the Year Award - Connection Newspapers (Team Fire Hearts)

Maddie was just 6 when she began having bouts of severe back pain that led to doctor’s office appointments, emergency room visits, and hospital stays.  At first, doctors thought Maddie had muscle strain from gymnastics classes.  Later, they changed the diagnosis to constipation.  But the pain didn’t go away or get any better, and Maddie also developed a low - grade fever. 

In July 2014, Maddie underwent an MRI of her spine and biopsy of a suspicious spot.  Doctors told Maddie’s parents she had acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), and her treatment would likely involve several years of chemotherapy.  And she would need to begin treatment the very next day.

Maddie was stoic through her first chemo induction and was discharged from the hospital shortly afterward.  A few weeks later, the family showed Maddie’s medical records to a friend of theirs – an oncologist and hematologist – to get a second opinion.  He found that Maddie actually had hypodiploid ALL, a rare, high-risk type of leukemia that does not have a high long-term survival rate when treated with chemotherapy alone.

He referred Maddie to an oncologist at Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston.  Maddie’s new medical team said she’d need a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible to have her best chance at long-term survival.  The Stanton family, who lived more than 200 miles away in Boerne, Texas, began preparing to move to Houston.

Maddie’s medical team turned to Be the Match, a marrow registry operated by the National Marrow Donor Program for a donor.  Within a short time, a perfect match for Maddie was found through the registry.  In November 2014, Maddie received her transplant, getting an infusion of new bone marrow cells prepared from her donor’s cells.  After about 4 weeks into her recovery, the Stanton’s learned that Maddie’s donor bone marrow had fully engrafted.  The transplant had been successful. But it would still be many months before they could return home to Boerne because she had to be closely monitored for problems.

At first, Maddie visited the bone marrow transplant clinic 3 times a week and over the course of 5 months, reduced those to once a week.  She finished 1st grade through a homebound education program.  But Maddie developed complications from the transplant including life-threatening kidney problems.  By December 2015, the medical team got her complications under control and the family was finally able to return home.

Today, Maddie is a bright, happy and beautiful 10-year-old in fifth grade.  She loves school, and excels in all of her subjects. Her favorite activities are twice-weekly dance lessons, arts and crafts, and spending time with family and friends.

The 2019 Students of the Year Boston Campaign officially kicked off yesterday, January 17th! 

18 Massachusetts high school students, representing 11 teams, have embarked on a transformational journey to advance blood cancer cures. For the next seven weeks, our students will be raising critical funds for LLS, to support our mission to cure blood cancers and to improve the quality of lives for patients and their families. LLS is honored to have these relentless students take on this challenge.

Celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of our 10 candidate teams of 13 high school students from around the valley. These students will be culminating their journey to fight blood cancer with a unique celebration that will honor their efforts. Hosted by Fabrizio Banquet Hall and emceed by Beth Fisher, we will be announcing our 2020 Student of the Year!

Our 2nd annual Students of the Year 2020 competition kicks off at Dave & Buster's where we will be celebrating our 10 student teams comprised of 13 high school students from across the Las Vegas valley! We have representation from Adelson Educational Academy, Advanced Career & Technical Academy, Arbor View, Bishop Gorman, Centennial, Coronado, Desert Oasis, Las Vegas Academy of the Arts, Nevada State High School, Silverado, and West Career & Technical Academy! 

Congratulations to the following students who have qualified for our 2019 Students of the Year Team Member Hall of Fame:

• Hayley Abell
• Jojo Agaze
• Rakin Ahmed
• Gabrielle Arkema
• Sophie Barnello
• Hannah Belin
• Colin Bell
• Campbell Bellaman
• Colby Bellaman
• Caroline Bennett
• Jake Beres
• Hannah Book
• Ainsley Booth
• Cami Brown
• Grace Brown
• Matthew Bruning
• Peyton Burg
• Isabella Capuano
• Ava Chambers
• Serena Chon
• Kevin Christmas
• Lydia Church
• Christina Claverie-Williams
• Ethan Cohen
• Emma Colangelo
• Ashlyn Cool
• Max Cooney
• Charlie Cooper
• Ellie Cull
• Frank Cull
• Harry Cull
• Livi Curran
• Sara Dabak
• Sofia D'Avella
• William Davidson
• Isabella DeLew
• Riley Draddy
• Connor Ebel
• Sophie Egge
• Nick Essepian
• Morgan Exley
• William Fearey
• Ruthie Foley
• Isabella Fontana
• Juliana Freeman
• Samantha Galvin
• Lauren Gambino
• Maryam Garavi
• Quinn Gardiner
• Kate Gerrish
• Kendal Gilday
• Dylan Glazer
• Zoey Glazer
• Lainey Green
• Ashley Greenblatt
• John Gross
• Jenna Hajji
• Caroline Hamilton
• Antara Hebbar
• Anna Hemmer
• Lila Herndon
• Trevor Hershner
• Caroline Hertzberg
• Dylan Hitt
• Riley Hoang
• Mary Kate Hogan
• Meaghan Howard
• Ellie Huppe
• Serena Jacobs
• Gigi Jacobsen
• Jessica Jarratt
• Carson Kabance
• Kennedy Kabance
• Chloe Kahler
• Davis Kampschror
• Alexia Karabassis
• Dean Katz
• Lilee Keeler
• Bridget Keon
• Kaan Kocabal
• Geoff Kreutzberg
• Brianna Lane
• Francesca Larson
• Ariana Lotfi
• Faith Lowery
• Will Madden
• Jacob Maged
• Jordan Maged
• Maeve Marron
• Grace Martin
• Keely McGowan
• Maria Merz
• Liam Miller
• Ryanne Mills
• Sophie Moniz
• Arielle Moore
• Maeve Morris
• Ava Mottaghi
• Molly Murphy
• Cailyn Murray
• Madison Myers
• Carter Nalewanski
• William Nash
• Catherine Nelson
• Daniella Nichols
• Caroline Oakley
• McKhaye O'Boyle
• Aidan O'Donnell
• Caroline Ogilvie
• Joseph Ostrowski
• Gabriel Paz
• Natalie Peoples
• Danielle Peters
• Valeska Peters
• Sophia Poretsky
• Brigid Radtke
• Barclay Rayome
• Owen Rejevich
• India Reynolds
• Sara Rider
• Sheily Rios
• Caroline Roades
• Street Roberts
• Hunter Robinson
• Nora Rosario
• Hanes Rosenau
• Austin Rouse
• Sarah Rubin
• Ryan Ruscitella
• Charlotte Russell
• Max Samuels
• Nicole Samuels
• Maya Sardar
• Hannah Shiblaq
• Ellie Shiveley
• Lily Shiveley
• Sophie Simon
• Catherine Smeallie
• Haley Smith
• Chrisopther Sosnik
• Sydney Southworth
• Ava Spigel
• Peter Stabler
• Anastasia Staurulakis
• Antwoin Stokes, Jr.
• Farhan Syed
• Maddie Tan
• Akil Tareque
• Jack Thistle
• Maya Tilahun
• Ellie Walsh
• Aspen Weber
• Bea Webster
• Isabelle Weeda
• Brooke Weiser
• Dominic Welsh
• Molly Wernicke
• Sara West
• Maxwell Wharton
• Will Wharton
• Megan Wilkie
• TJ Williams
• Kelly Wilson
• Grant Wincup
• Caroline Worch
• Esam Yousuf
• Jessica Zhang

Laila was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia on June 8, 2018.

During a basketball game Laila was feeling slow and tired, definitely not like her usual self, and was getting dizzy when she stopped running. Her mom thought perhaps she was dehydrated, but when her mother watched Laila stare blankly at a ball that fell right in front of her, she knew something was very wrong. Her mother took her immediately to the ER at St. Anne. She was then transferred to St. Vincent, and following 36 hours of tests, a spinal tap and a bone marrow biopsy, they learned that Laila had Leukemia. After learning of the diagnosis, Laila cried for the first and only time during this process. She says that she knows there are people going through things that are much harder than what she is dealing with.

Laila is in the midst of a 2 ½ year treatment process. Her goal is to be able to play basketball again as soon as possible.

                                            GOLD

                                            BRONZE

                                            SENIOR

If you're interested in sponsoring the 2020 Students of the Year campaign please contact: Allison Kelly, Allison.Kelly@lls.org