Did you know:

More than 200,00 Americans have leukemia.

An estimated 35,00 new cases will be diagnosed this year.

Leukemia causes more deaths than any other cancer among children.

3,442 children are diagnosed with leukemia each year in the US.

As you may know one of my first jobs was working for an association that helped the families of children who were diagnosed with cancer. Meeting those incredible children and their families has been a strong motivator for me to help prevent more families and children from having to go through what I saw those families go through.

This Winter I joined Team in Trainings Hike for Discovery, an endurance hiking program sponsored by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS, http://www.lls.org). I’ve committed to improving my health and raising funds in honor of the courageous children and families that I have met. I will be training daily on my own, as well as working out and hiking with the group twice each week to prepare for a hike in the Grand Canyon in June.

The need for funding is critical. Much progress towards a cure has been made as the result of the research such as that funded by LLS. Over the past three decades the leukemia death rate in the United States for children under the age of 15 has declined 61 percent. That is impressive progress but is still not enough. With your help, together we can raise money to fund research to create better treatments and continue to decrease the death rate among children‚ because no family should have to bury a child.

My commitment to honor these families memory as well as to honor those fighting leukemia is to raise $5,500 for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This money will go towards research aimed at finding a cure for leukemia and its related diseases. Your support and confidence means a lot to me in both honoring the families who have lost a child to cancer and helping find a cure for those who are fighting leukemia today.

Please join me in spirit by making a donation today. If you know someone else who would be interested in making a donation, please forward him or her this letter! At least 75% of every dollar goes directly to patient services and to fund research. Together we can find a cure! My dream is to see a cure in my lifetime and I can see it getting closer with every response to this letter I get!

With Heartfelt Thanks,

Lily Rich