Capital Region Cares Capital Region Cares 2017-2018 | Page 65

Leukemia &
lymphoma Society
W
PROVIDING HOPE, FINDING CURES
ith a mission of curing
leukemia, lymphoma,
Hodgkin’s disease and
myeloma and improving the quality
of life for patients and their families,
the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s
Greater Sacramento Area chapter serves
37 counties throughout Northern Cali-
fornia and Northern Nevada.
More than 2,300 patients are di-
agnosed annually with blood cancers
within this territory, and this year LLS
has helped 118 patients with $296,000 in
co-pay assistance, and has helped 266
patients and healthcare professionals
with educational programs and ma-
terials. “It’s still unknown what causes
blood cancers, so rather than focus on
prevention we focus on research to find
cures, access to treatments, and patient
support,” says Jenaye Shepherd, Execu-
tive Director. LLS also lobbies on behalf
of blood cancer patients. “Our public
policy team is heavily involved in trying
to remove barriers for patients seeking
treatment and to keep treatment afford-
able in today’s unpredictable healthcare
climate,” notes Shepherd.
LLS is co-hosting the new Beat AML
Master Trial with a couple of academic
institutions. “Non-profits typically don’t
host trials – it’s usually universities, or
pharmaceutical companies,” Shepherd
points out. “Acute Myeloid Leukemia
(AML) is a complex cancer with poor
survival rates and unfortunately there
have been no advances in treatment
for the last 40 years. LLS has commit-
ted to investing $125 million in this trial
to support AML patients and fund new
treatments."
"Our chapter has had an exceptional
fundraising year, raising more than
$3 million for the mission to support
patients and find cures, said Shepherd.
“Many of our programs went beyond ex-
LLS.ORG
pectations – more than 600 area schools
raised more than $700,000 collecting
pennies, and we had more than 200
Team In Training participants and more
than 3,500 walkers for our Light the
Night fundraising event in 2016.”
Capping off the stellar year, the
chapter’s 2017 Man of the Year, Clay Cov-
ington, and Woman of the Year, Karlee
Cemo-McIntosh, both set records for
fundraising, with Clay raising more than
$179,000 and Karlee raising more than
$225,000, a tremendous impact towards
a world without blood cancer.
comstocksmag.com | 2017 CAPITAL REGION CARES
65