In honor of #givesomethingawayday InterpretCloud sat down with Aubrey Allison, the campaign manager for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), Utah Chapter. She talked with us about LLS’s mission and their largest community campaign Light the Night.
LLS helps fund research on blood cancers as well as provides financial assistance and emotional support through their call center to those who have been affected by a blood cancer. They also help advocate on a local and federal level on behalf of patients so they have access to the treatments getting approved through the FDA.
The Light the Night campaign is a fundraiser that started in 1998 and is a community event. Everyone who attends gets a lantern in one of the following colors: white (survivor of a blood cancer), gold (those remembering a loved one they lost to cancer), and red (supporters). During the opening ceremony, the survivors come to the middle of the crowd to light their lanterns, celebrate their survivorship and courageous fight against cancer and bond with others going through similar situations. Then, the rest of the community with red and gold lanterns light and raise their lantern to show the community support and dedication to ending cancer. The ceremony ends with a beam of white light piercing the night sky. This represents bringing light to the darkness of cancer, after which the community takes their illuminated lanterns to walk a mile in solidarity.
The current pandemic of covid19 has created a difficult time for cancer patients. Cancer patients have a weakened immune system making them more susceptible to other illnesses including this new coronavirus. There is also the additional challenge that if a cancer patient has lost their job or they have a family member who has lost their job, they have potentially lost access to their insurance, making it hard to get the treatment they need.
Currently, LLS is working virtually, and will continue to support patients and their family members through resources and continued campaigns as there is still plenty of volunteer work to do even during this uncertain time. They will not let coronavirus or anything else stand in their way of finding a cure to beat cancer. As Aubrey Allison told us, “Beating cancer is in our blood.”
We are proud to say that our company CEO, David Utrilla, is the 2020 Chair of the LLS Light the Night Campaign.
If you are interested in supporting LLS, Light the Night, or any other campaign please visit the websites below for more information or email ltn.uts@lls.org
https://www.lightthenight.org/utah
