Climb. Conquer. Cure.
March 24th, 2024

Hi! First off, thank you so much for taking out time in your day to read over LLS’s cause. I will be participating in my first Big Climb Seattle this year. Our efforts will help make a big difference in the fight against blood cancers.

As many of you may know, my name is Vanessa and I mostly work with animals on the veterinary medicine side. Although I’ve never lost anyone to Leukemia, I have lost someone special to me to Lymphoma. His name was Coco, he was 3 years old when his parents initially found some unusual lumps on his body. His Veterinarian said he only had a couple months to live especially without treatment. He managed to live another year in agony before I was able to see his condition. His parents didn’t know better, they told me “Coco is fine.” They assumed if he was still eating and wagging his tail, he was “doing fine” and keeping the kids happy. As part of their religion as well, they could not take another’s life or make that call to end his. It broke my heart, seeing how much he was suffering, and how lost the adults were in their grieving stages to not recognize this was no quality of a life for any beloved pet. I was finally able to convince them to allow me to take him to my vet practice, and we were able to offer Coco a way to pass humanely.

If you would like to continue to show support in my climb, please donate to my personal page.Thank you so much for all of your support even if you’re just reading through this page. ❤ 

My team page is: http://www.llswa.org/goto/young “The Young & The Breathless” with goals to fundraise $3,300. We managed to raise $5,330!

Update: As of 2/14/24, we have reached our team goal!

What is the Big Climb?
The Big Climb is a stairclimb up the Columbia Center - the tallest skyscraper in downtown Seattle. There are 69 floors of stairs, 1311 steps, and 788 feet of vertical elevation. Although it will be challenging, it pales in comparison to what blood cancer patients go through. All proceeds benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. 

Who is The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society?
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. The mission of LLS is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

Every day, more than 347 LLS sponsored researchers come closer to the goal of finding a cure for leukemia and related blood cancers. Locally, LLS funds 10 researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and University of Washington Medical Center. Your support and commitment to the mission of LLS enables us to continue this important work of saving lives and aids us in our ability to reach patients in our community.

Thank you for your time and I hope that you will consider donating to this cause!