More than 10 years ago, Barry Cooper was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). To both Barry and his wife, Naomi, it was a shock—Barry was fit and healthy, and had even run the NYC marathon several times. Not knowing where else to turn, Naomi phoned The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and spoke to a counsellor about treatment options and second opinions. Today, thanks to the LLS-funded medications that treat him, Barry is living with his CML. But that’s not where their story ends. In 2013, Naomi, too, was diagnosed with a leukemia—chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). At the time, no such treatments that managed Barry’s disease were available to Naomi. She was facing a lot of difficult decisions with no time to consider them. And then, miraculously, the FDA approved a new drug—a drug that Naomi was given to save her life. Now she, too, lives with a disease that is kept manageable with a daily pill. Both Naomi and Barry are living proof that someday truly is today.

September 1st, 2000 is a date that Kathleen Castro will never forget. She was 19 years old, and supposed to move back to college the next day to be roommates with her best friend. Instead, Kathleen had to call her roommate and say she had just been diagnosed with cancer: Hodgkin’s lymphoma, stage 2A. What followed was four months of chemo and two weeks of radiation, and then, finally, remission. Years passed; two beautiful daughters were born, and cancer was but a distant memory. In 2010, Kathleen had almost forgotten about her experience, but realized how much a part of her it had been. She wanted to give back; to support those going through a similar fight. An Internet search turned up The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night, and Kathleen signed up to fundraise. She wants everyone to have the same outcome that she did, “…and until then, let’s be relentless for a cure.”