Taking Steps Towards a Cure

Jillian Bove and Allison Szema juniors from Ward Melville High School are co-candidates in the 2018 Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Students of the Year Campaign. Students of the Year is a seven-week initiative in which nominated high school students participate in a fundraising competition to benefit LLS's mission. The mission of LLS is to cure Leukemia, Lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and Myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. This fundraising competition begins March 8, 2018 and ends on April 26, 2018.

Their team, Three Village for a Cure (3vforacure), has an ambitious goal to raise $50,000 in just seven weeks! Adrianna Orduna, Allison Nemesure, Cassidy Oliver, Catherine Jiang, Jack Swain, Jack Bertini, Jocelyn Su, Kate Dargan, Max Friedman, Patrick Sammon, and Samantha Sloan are all members of Jillian and Allison’s campaign team, 3vforacure. This group of talented and hardworking students are combining their efforts to compete against other high school teams throughout Long Island. The hope is that their team, Three Village for a Cure, raises the most money and earns the title, Students of the Year.

3vforacure has mailed more than 500 letters to family, friends, and neighbors, raising awareness about the LLS, and about their collective fundraising endeavor. This information can be found on their fundraising page: http://events.lls.org/li/longi.... Jillian and Allison have been working with their high school community to plan student events such as a badminton tournament, bake sale, and the spread of donation boxes. In addition, 3vforacure is coordinating and reaching out to local Three Village businesses asking if they would like to support their campaign through purchasing program book ads or donating silent auction items for the Grand Finale.

Although they are all busy with their academics, and extracurricular activities, they have found time to work together and to contribute with this special fundraising campaign. The campaign is important to all of them, but it is especially heartfelt and passionately driven through Jillian. Jillian’s mother, Patricia Bove was diagnosed in July of 2015 with Stage III Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and she is the reason why they want to participate in this campaign. Patricia has received six months of chemotherapy and is currently receiving maintenance treatments for two years with a biological agent in the hopes that the disease will stay in remission. Unfortunately, Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma is not curable at the present time and can come back aggressively. It is their biggest hope that their efforts will lead to a cure. All money donated to this campaign will help LLS supported therapies for all blood cancer patients. These new therapies will also help patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers. Some of these therapies are being tested in clinical trials for patients with lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers.

3vforacure hopes that their message will grow quickly and reach thousands of people. During this seven-week competition, each high school team is not aware of how much money the other teams are raising, which makes the Grand Finale Celebration that much more exciting! The Grand Finale is being held on April 26, 2018 at the Heritage Club in Bethpage, NY, the exact day that the fundraising competition is finished. It is there that the winning high school team will be announced and recognized. Allison Szema, Jillian Bove, Adrianna Orduna, Allison Nemesure, Cassidy Oliver, Catherine Jiang, Jack Swain, Jack Bertini, Jocelyn Su, Kate Dargan, Max Friedman, Patrick Sammon, and Samantha Sloan are all hoping to earn the title of “Students of the Year” making their team 3vforacure, the team that raised the most funds for LLS.

To donate to 3vforacure please visit: http://events.lls.org/li/longi...

To purchase Grand Finale Tickets, Program Book Ads, or inquires about Sponsorships visit: http://events.lls.org/li/longi... & click 'SHOP OUR STORE'