The LLS Story | Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Fundraising Gala Video Highlighting the History of LLS

Client: Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Industry: Non profit
Video Type: Interview Style
Messaging Type: Fundraising

About This Video Project

One of our previous clients, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, reached out to us to create an impactful and inspiring video highlighting the history of LLS. They wanted to show this emotional video during a fundraising gala.

In this interview style video we hear about the story of LLS from the current President and CEO along with some of their amazing programs like Team in Training and their Dare to Dream initiative. We spoke with a survivor, Georgia and her sister to hear about their experience as well as Team in Training and the difference their father made during a time when there was no progess.

Using client submitted archival footage and photographs we’re able to showcase the history of this truly amazing non-profit that funds blood cancer research here and all over the world.

Transcription

The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s origin started with a child who was diagnosed with leukemia, Robert DeVilliers, a son of a New York family. He died shortly after his diagnosis. Five years later, in 1949, his parents started the Robert Rosselet DeVilliers Foundation, later to become the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Downtown in Manhattan was our first office, and it has since grown into a global program supporting blood cancer research and progress all over the world. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society was there in the very beginning, funding some of the first investigators that were figuring out how to safely give chemotherapy to patients with cancer. And building on that experience, year after year, decade after decade, survival rates started to climb from zero to 10%, 20%, 30%. And by the 1980s, 1990s, when survival rates were getting higher and higher, we started asking questions about how can we refine that treatment. So on top of that chemotherapy, we added radiation to the brain and to the spine. And with that, we went from survival rates of 20 or 30% to survival rates of 70 or 80%. All of those cures came at a cost. My mom was really worried about my health. She noticed that I had bruises on my legs, I had cold-like symptoms. She took me to the doctors, and they said, Georgia has acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The earliest thing I recall in my life was my dad informing me that my sister had cancer. I was five, and our lives as we knew it just completely turned on a dime. They said that I had stage four leukemia, and that’s when I had to immediately go to the hospital the first day I was diagnosed to start treatment. When my parents were presented with the only protocol that could potentially help save her life, that carried with it some very, very serious potential ramifications. I had cranial radiation and chemotherapy. They radiated my brain to make sure that, you know, nothing cancerous would spread to it. Cure rates for ALL were in the 20 to 30% range until cranial radiation. And with cranial radiation, it jumped up to 60, 70%. But we started to observe that we were causing long-term side effects, some quite debilitating and life-limiting. The difficult side effect from that was learning disabilities, especially with math, time comprehension, history, memories. I think she had over a 75% chance of developing a brain tumor. From head to toe, I don’t think there was a vital organ in her body that was unaffected. She was 20 months old. You know, she was barely talking. And to see her going through that, you know, it was just like, it probably should have been me. I was bigger. I was stronger. When I was, like, seven or eight years old, I went into remission from leukemia. Right after I went into remission, my dad decided to make a plan of how to help cancer patients like me. Team and Training was born out of a sense of helplessness. A lot of children were losing their lives. My dad turned to my mom and he said, you know, I’m looking around and I’m seeing all these guys who’ve enjoyed the holidays too much. And, you know, we all need to lose some weight. We all need to get back into shape. Let’s run for leukemia and take a stab at this year’s New York City Marathon. And let’s call it Team and Training because Lord knows we’re not perfect, but we can train to get close. Thirty-five years and $1.6 billion later, I think our family has helped a lot of people save themselves and fight their fights. 1949, there were no options. It was a death sentence. Fast forward to Georgia. There were a couple of options, and now we’re talking about Dare to Dream. It’s incredibly meaningful that now we can look at kids and give them hope. And kids can survive and thrive and can dream as much as they want about amazing lives ahead of them. It’s an incredible change from where we were in 1985. We’ve been able to shorten the duration of treatment for some kids and reduce the cumulative exposure to toxic therapies. The problem is that 80% of the kids diagnosed with leukemia or with any cancer still have significant life-limiting and lifelong side effects. So how can we refine the treatment to reduce the side effects and still cure as many if not more children? Whatever that discovery is, I can promise you that there’s an LLS-funded investigator who’s working on it. It has been truly remarkable how long I’ve been a survivor. I give all my thanks to everyone who’s stepped forward to sign up for any LLS program. We all want to find that one cure someday and see no more cancer. This is certainly not one child or one man or one family or one couple. This is certainly not one child or one man or one family or one couple. The consequence of so many yeses along the way and so much energy and participation and just showing up. And without all of those collectively, this would never be a reality. We have laid the foundation of discovery that’s going to resonate for decades. Nobody does it better than LLS.

To learn more: https://www.lls.org