Teens & Children

Just two weeks into my junior year of high school, I was pulled out of class at lunch and packed a small overnight bag, not realizing I wouldn’t return to school for the entire year.

My name is Nicole, and in 2022, I celebrated the 10-year anniversary of that life-altering day.

Sofia’s story starts in November 2022. Actually, it starts on March 17, 2019, when she was born. She has been my fierce, independent, strong-willed little girl from the get-go. Once she started walking, she was an unstoppable force. Contrary to her cautious, older brother, Sofia seemed fearless. She loved to climb to the top of the playground structure meant for kids twice her age.

My journey with The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) began in the summer of 2020. My 17-year-old, two-sport, athlete son, Jimmy, came to me complaining that he had pulled a muscle in his neck lifting weights for football and baseball.

Heads or tails? The medical research was clear. Soon after making his way into the world, this beautiful and innocent boy was given the chance of making it to 5 years old with the same odds as the flip…of…a…coin. Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) has a 5-year event-free survival rate of 50%. Half of the young children that receive this diagnosis don’t make it. Heads. Or. Tails.

My name is Jonathan, but I really like to be called "The Penny Man.” I have been collecting pennies for over 15 years and then donating them to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). I first started collecting in high school in 2006 when a classmate of mine passed away from leukemia. My teacher, Mrs.

In 2008, my three year old daughter, Grace, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) at her three year old doctor (check up) appointment. Grace was categorized as a high-risk case of ALL and underwent two full treatment regimens of chemotherapy spanning over two full years.