LLS

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Sam Corti was a freshman at Commack High School and just shy of 14 when she was diagnosed with Leukemia. After stabilizing her diagnosis and eventually completing her treatment four months later (this past January), she was encouraged by her close friends and club-soccer teammates, Gianna Deitch and Kylie Decicco, to create a team with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) as a part of its Students of the Year Campaign.

"I got involved with LLS through my friends," Corti explained. "They thought it was a good idea for me to be one of the leaders after I was diagnosed and doing well in treatment. I thought it was a great way to promote awareness for the team and for the Commack community. It was a great way to help raise awareness so people could understand how difficult it is for cancer patients and what they have to go through. It was a great opportunity to help educate people on the situation. I knew that LLS was looking for a cure - not just for Leukemia - but for Lymphoma also, so I felt that this was a great way to contribute to my community."
Since 1949, LLS has pioneered its efforts towards groundbreaking research and effective and affordable treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma. LLS is also a global leader in the fight against cancer as it establishes endeavors that aim to educate the public on the disease while providing effective ways for much-needed contributions.
LLS's Students of the Year Campaign is a seven-week philanthropic leadership development program during which students foster professional skills such as entrepreneurship, marketing and project management in order to raise funds for LLS. The annual Student(s) of the Year is awarded to the candidate or co-candidates in each community who raises the most funds during the competition. Top local fundraisers become eligible to win the national title.
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This year, Corti and her team have already begun orchestrating their fundraising efforts despite the obstacles presented from the international COVID-19 outbreak.
"We're just brainstorming of ideas right now of how to fundraise," Corti said. "We're thinking of virtual ways like emailing people or creating flyers, but just making sure it's virtually based. If we do meet up, we make sure that we're all wearing masks and keeping a distance with each other…We'll put something together by the end of this year. Keep an eye out for it."
With COVID-19 at the forefront of societal conversations, the efforts from teams like Corti's are that much more crucial to continue to create awareness among communities and to try and combat the deadly diseases that LLS has tirelessly been working towards curing.
"While everyone is working to adjust to a 'new normal,' LLS is making sure not to forget the more than 1.3 million people living with or in remission from a blood cancer, many of whom are children," said Sara Lipsky, LLS's Metro New York Executive Director.
This year, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) hosted its signature community fundraising campaign, Light The Night, as a virtual event which has already raised more than $2.2 million across the Metro New York Region. Light the Night is LLS' annual inspirational walk that takes place across the U.S. and Canada and aims to bring light to the darkness of cancer.
As 2020 wraps up in the coming months, LLS is directing its focus towards the Students of the Year campaign and is eager to see the results from teams like Corti's.
To learn more about upcoming events or how to get involved with LLS, visit
www.LLS.org
.
For additional information on New York Metro-based events and programs please visit
https://www.lls.org/metny
or find LLS on Facebook @llslongislandchapter and @llsnyc and Instagram at @llslongisland and @llsnyc.