Dear UMAC,

 

I hope that you and your family are well during these challenging times.  This past year has shown us how precious our health can be and that’s why I’m reaching out. 

 

Each year, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) launches its Man & Woman of the Year fundraising campaign, and I was honored to join this year’s efforts as a team member for Team Champions 4 Cures. I am writing today to ask for your support of LLS’s mission in its efforts to find cures for blood cancers and to assist patients and families as they battle this disease.

 

The Champions 4 Cures team, which was founded by us, and is being led this year by Shannon Saper, (fellow student, parent and dear friend) whose husband Jeff, was diagnosed with Hairy Cell Leukemia in 2018.  It turned their world upside down for obvious reasons, but even more so because this was not Jeff’s first battle with cancer.  Eight years earlier, in 2010, Jeff had endured the worst nightmare imaginable.  He lost his son, Riley Saper, only thirteen years old, to AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia).

 

Thankfully due to the amazing work and research done by LLS and other organizations, Jeff is now in remission, but the battle is not over.  Every 3 minutes, one person in the US is diagnosed with blood cancer and as Shannon & Jeff know all too well, not every story has a happy ending.  And that’s why I have joined this campaign– so that one day, we truly can win the battle, and end the suffering that so many families have to endure.

 

From March 4th – May 13th, my team, Champions 4 Cures, is aiming to raise $125,000 which will go directly to LLS in support of its longstanding goal: a world without blood cancers. 

 

And the research LLS does, extends far beyond blood cancer.  For example, approximately 40% of new cancer therapies approved by the FDA since 2000 were first approved for blood cancer patients.  And many of these LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now approved to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers, and noncancerous diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.  This is an organization that is making an impact with the dollars it raises, and I’m proud to be associated with them.

 

This is where you come in.  I know that times are tough, but any donation - big or small - will truly make a difference in this fight.

 

Please use this link: https://pages.lls.org/mwoy/ctwhv/ctwhv21/ssaper, or the enclosed response form, to make a tax-deductible contribution to LLS.  

 

Shannon, Jeff & I thank you for supporting this incredible cause.   

Best wishes,

Grandmaster Berlow & Mrs. Berlow

p.s.  Does your company have a matching gifts program that might be willing to match your donation?