April 24, 2022: For everyone that has donated so far: thank you! You have helped me raise $110,000 so far for research and the development of clinical trials that save lives. My personal goal is to exceed $150,000, so I will personally match every dollar donated until we hit that mark. That means I will personally donate up to an additional $20k on the next $20k donated, so every dollar you donate will count twice as much in leading the fight against blood cancers. Remember, it is fully tax deductible, and every dollar counts. Thanks for your help and support. Sincerely, Rob Penta

One of the most frightening words in the English language is "cancer".  Most of us have been impacted by it in some way.  Every one of you reading this has either had to fight it directly yourself, or you have had at least one friend or family member that has had to battle it. 

Personally, I remember my grandmother being diagnosed with Lymphoma in 2005 and surviving her battle with it.  Then, a year later I would learn that a close friend of mine from law school (Katie Ferraris Taylor) had been diagnosed with Leukemia.  It was only 2 months after we had graduated from Wake Forest and she was my first close friend to get cancer.  She died less than 9 months later on April 7, 2007, at only 29 years old.  She never even got a chance to take the bar exam.  A few years later, another very close friend of mine (John Shumate) would receive a diagnosis of an aggressive form of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma in May of 2010, which he has now been battling for over 11 years.  Less than 7 years later another very close friend (Jenna Weitkamp Maddux) would lose her life to cancer on March 14, 2017 after a vicious 2 year battle with the disease.  A couple of years later my mother would be diagnosed with Breast Cancer bringing the disease to our Sunday evening family dinner table.      

The frightening fact is that 1 in 3 people will get some form of cancer in their lifetime.  When that person is someone close to you, you will want the most advanced treatments for their type of cancer to be ready for them.  For that to be possible, we have to invest in those treatments and clinical trials now.  This is why I am dedicating my time, effort, and money to participating in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and its 2022 Visionaries of the Year campaign. I hope you will join me in this.  Over the years, donations from people like you have been responsible for the blood cancer advancements that have doubled, tripled, and in some cases quadrupled the survival rate for some blood cancers.

As of a few years ago, my friend John from the video below had received 13 types of treatment for his aggressive form of Lymphoma, including 11 clinical trials, and a stem cell transplant.  Today, he has lost count of the number of treatments he has received, but thanks in large part to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS), he is still going strong in his battle with the disease.  Having been his friend since 1996 and worked with him since 2018, I've seen first hand how critical being able to stay a few steps ahead of the disease can be, and only continued innovation and access to advanced new treatments has allowed him to do that.  Here is a great video of him talking about it that I hope you will watch.  It is only a few minutes long, so take the time to check it out.

Since 1949, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has invested nearly $1.3 billion in groundbreaking research, pioneering many of today's most innovative approaches.  As the world's largest voluntary (nonprofit) health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, LLS and the researchers that it funds work tirelessly to find cures and ensure patients can access the lifesaving treatment they needs.  Since 2017, LLS has helped advance more than 85% of blood cancer treatments approved by the FDA.  Through their "Beat AML Master Clinical Trial", LLS helped to fund and develop the first collaborative precision medicine clinical trial in a blood cancer.  Because LLS has invested more than $50 million to advance CAR T-cell therapy since the 1990's, they have created game-changing results and new treatments for blood cancer patients with limited options...which is part of the reason that my close friend John Shumate is still alive today.  Through the LLS Children's Initiative, LLS has been working to develop and fund the first global precision medicine clinical trial for pediatric acute leukemia in history.  The LLS Clinical Trial Support Center placed 21% of patients into a clinical trial in 2020, which is significantly higher than the national average enrollment rate of 5-8%.

In short, LLS funds the research and helps develop the clinical trials that lead to the treatments that save lives.  Approximately 40% of new cancer therapies approved by the FDA since 2000 were first approved for blood cancer patients.  Many of these LLS-supported therapies are now approved for use in treatment for other types of rare cancers and are even being tested in clinical trials for other types of cancers ranging from lung cancer to pancreatic cancer to breast cancer.  In other words, the research and clinical trials LLS funds does not just help in the fight against blood cancers...it helps in the fight against all cancer.    

My vision is a world without blood cancers...and one day...a world without cancer at all.

The fundraising campaign ends May 14th, 2022, so there isn't much time.  I hope you will join me in supporting my campaign to increase funding for research and clinical trials by making a donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society through my Visionaries of the Year campaign. 

All donations are greatly appreciated and tax-deductible. They'll not only support LLS research, but patient services, advocacy, public and professional education, and community services as well. Please visit my website often and tell friends who would also like to donate!