OUR VOLUNTEERS ARE KINDNESS IN MOTION

"The most truly generous persons are those who give silently without hope of praise or reward." – Carol Ryrie Brink.

Our President's Award Recipient has chosen to stay anonymous, but we are no less grateful for the tremendous impact she has had on The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). After losing her husband following a blood cancer diagnosis nearly 20 years ago, our recipient made the decision to honor him by supporting LLS through unwavering, creative, and tireless work.

In March of 2020, as she watched families struggle to afford basic needs during the pandemic she decided to shift her focus to help support patients in more immediate ways by establishing Charlie's Fund, in partnership with the LLS Urgent Need Program. After receiving the first Impact Report, our recipient was moved by the number of people LLS could reach; however, she could not stop thinking about how many thousands of people may still be in need as funds quickly depleted. This inspired her to set a goal to raise $1M for the LLS Adult Urgent Need program. She wrote countless thank you notes and emails to staff and prospects, as well as met with LLS Senior Vice President of Missions Operations, Anne Gutch and LLS President and CEO, Dr. Louis DeGennaro.

Our recipient has touched the lives of thousands of patients and families through her generosity and commitment, and ultimately helped influence LLS's priorities for those patients in immediate financial need. Her vision to help patients and families in financial distress turned into a solution. She has dedicated her time and effort to reach outside her network for contributions to the LLS Adult Urgent Need Program and made tangible changes in people's lives while creating transformational change within LLS.

It is for all these reasons and more that she was chosen as the 2023 LLS President's Award Recipient!

Our 2023 LLS President's Awardee prefers to stay anonymous.

The LLS President's Award is given to an individual who has shown excellence when it comes to making substantive transformational impact at LLS. Whether it has been bringing forward national business development opportunities to LLS or leading the way to groundbreaking scientific discoveries, this person has made the greatest cumulative impact this past year, raising LLS to new heights.

After being diagnosed in 2006 at the age of 46 with incurable follicular non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Laurie Adami endured six different treatments over the course of the next 12 years, never achieving completion remission. In 2018, out of options, her long and grueling health journey finally concluded when she participated in a clinical trial of CAR T-cell therapy (funded by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society) which put her in a complete remission where she remains today, almost 5 years later.

Laurie began her involvement with LLS in 2007 by forming a Light the Night (LTN) Friends & Family fundraising team which consistently won top fundraising team at the Los Angeles walk. She raised several hundred thousand dollars over the years and the money raised was used to fund LLS research projects. After 7 years of fundraising for LTN, she was nominated in 2014 for the Man & Woman of the Year (now Visionaries of the Year) campaign where she raised over $160,000. In 2017, her son August, who was in kindergarten when his mom was diagnosed, was the top student fundraiser in the Los Angeles Student of the Year fundraiser, raising over $100,000. Laurie is currently campaigning to raise $250,000 for the recently relaunched LLS Climb 2 Cure initiative through Team in Training. Given the great promise of newer treatment modalities like CAR T, she has directed the money she raises to fund immunotherapy grants.

Laurie has been a volunteer for almost 15 years with the LLS Patti Robinson Kauffman First Connection program, speaking with both newly diagnosed and relapsed blood cancer patients, providing hope, support and empathy. Laurie also volunteers for the LLS Office of Public Policy advocating for patients at the state and national level, visiting Capitol Hill (in person and virtually) to share her story and influence policy to benefit cancer patients and survivors. In both of these roles she is committed to improving patient outcomes.

Additionally, Laurie advocates for the expansion of access to and patient use of clinical trials – of her 7 treatment lines, 3 were clinical trials. She is a true leader in continuing to push and raise funds until new, life-saving treatments become available. Laurie has been featured as a guest on The Bloodline, an LLS patient podcast where she shared her extensive journey with lymphoma and discussed how CAR-T therapy finally put her in remission.

Laurie's dedication and passion for LLS and blood cancer patients shines in every role she has taken on with LLS as she continues her quest to help patients. Laurie is a true inspiration, and her story has brought hope to many blood cancer patients and the LLS community.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Laurie Adami, our 2023 de Villiers Family Legacy Award Recipient!

The de Villiers Family Legacy Award is given in honor of Rudolph and Antoinette de Villiers' son Robert. The de Villiers were the visionaries who founded the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in Robert's memory. This award recognizes individuals who have worked tirelessly to raise funds and influence policy with a passion and effort that matches that of the de Villiers' family. Recipients have advanced the overall mission of LLS by impacting their community through their leadership and commitment.

Dr. Ken Miller has not only dedicated his career to cancer treatment as a medical oncologist, but also has a personal connection to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society—his wife is an Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) survivor. Dr. Miller initially became involved with LLS's national office, where he offered Education and Services staff the idea to create a survivorship education video series. Dr. Miller collaborated with LLS staff to develop the topics of the series as well as recruit key opinion leaders and survivors to interview on each subject, including Young Adults Living with Cancer, Cancer & Cultural Sensitivity, Survivorship Care Planning, and Caregiving. The video series were posted on the LLS website and YouTube and brought awareness to important topics as well as information on LLS's support resources.

When the LLS Professional Education team planned to launch a podcast for healthcare professionals, "Treating Blood Cancers, Dr. Miller graciously accepted the role as moderator. Over the past four years, Dr. Miller has devoted countless hours to moderating podcast episodes monthly where he discusses important topics, such as treatment and support of all types of blood cancer, COVID-19, survivorship, and shared decision making, and speaking with key opinion leaders to discuss progress in the treatment of hematologic malignancies, side effect management, and strategies to support their patients and caregivers' quality of life.

In addition to being a busy practicing oncologist, Dr. Miller dedicates his time to reach out and help prep guests personally, prior to the podcast recording. As moderator of the podcast, he has increased LLS's visibility and reach among healthcare providers. The podcast continually receives overwhelmingly positive feedback and has over 73,000 listens from physicians, nurses, pharmacists, social workers, and other healthcare professionals.

Dr. Miller has an incredible passion for all his volunteer roles and actively reaches out with ideas to further his partnership and work with LLS. He is a dedicated volunteer, and his support has been invaluable to LLS and the patients we serve.

Congratulations, Dr. Ken Miller, for being our 2023 LLS Quality of Life Award Recipient!

The Quality of Life Award recognizes a member of the medical community, patient or caregiver who has provided outstanding support to the LLS community that advances the Mission of improving the quality of life of our patients and their families.