Verastem Oncology Named Corporate Walk Chair
For The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Boston Light The Night
Campaign Brings Community Together to Take Steps to End Cancer
(BOSTON, 09/01/19) – The New England Chapter of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) has announced Verastem Oncology as the Corporate Walk Chair for 2019’s Boston Light The Night®, LLS’s community celebration held each fall to help fundraise to find cures and provide access to treatments for blood cancer patients. As Corporate Walk Chair, Verastem Oncology has led the effort in accelerating corporate suppo9t and driving awareness for Light The Night to support LLS’s ultimate goal of creating a world without blood cancers.
Light The Night is a fundraising campaign benefiting LLS and their funding of research to find blood cancer cures. Coming together for a common goal, friends, family and co-workers form fundraising walk teams. Millions of consumers also help by donating at retail partners. Culminating in an inspirational and memorable evening every fall, participants in 140 communities across North America join together carrying illuminated lanterns to take steps to end cancer – white for survivors, red for supporters and gold in memory of loved ones lost to cancer.
“We are honored to support the LLS New England Chapter and Boston Light The Night to call attention to the need for research and education to help improve the lives of those affected by blood cancers,” said Brian Stuglik, CEO, Verastem Oncology. “We encourage other local corporations to join Verastem Oncology and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society by participating in Light The Night to support, patients, their families and the efforts to end cancer.”
This year, the Boston walk will be held on Thursday, October 17th at Boston Common at 5pm.
“When a loved one hears the words “you have cancer,” it is one of the darkest moments in your life,” said Laura MacNeill, LLS Executive Director. “At Light The Night, it is our aim to bring light to the darkness of cancer through research and cures, and reinforce the urgent need to raise more funds to fight cancer.”
At the Boston Light The Night walk, Verastem Oncology invites participants to visit their “Living in Hope” installation. The walls will be lined with greenery and flowers – reminiscent of the living wall that spans the entryway of its Needham company headquarters. This living wall symbolizes hope as well as the company’s commitment to cultivating solutions for people and families living with cancer. Light The Night participants will have the opportunity to stop in and take a photo to commemorate the evening and raise further awareness for blood cancers via social media.
LLS was founded by a family for families, beginning 70 years ago at a time when a diagnosis of leukemia was nearly 100% fatal. Now, with the development of new treatments for childhood leukemia, to today’s advances in precision medicine and immunotherapy, LLS has had a colossal impact on advancing cancer cures, and changing the way cancer is treated and the care for patients.
Through its efforts it has invested nearly $1.3 billion in cutting-edge research to advance therapies. Thanks to research, survival rates for patients with many blood cancers have doubled, tripled and even quadrupled since the early 1960s. Yet, despite these advances, about one third of patients with blood cancer still do not survive even five years after their diagnosis.
To form a team or to learn more, please call the New England Chapter at (508) 810-1300 or visit www.lightthenight.org/ma.
About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society® (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world, provides free information and support services, and is the voice for all blood cancer patients seeking access to quality, affordable, coordinated care.
Founded in 1949 and headquartered in Rye Brook, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.LLS.org. Patients should contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET.
About Verastem Oncology
Verastem Oncology (Nasdaq:VSTM) is a commercial biopharmaceutical company committed to the development and commercialization of medicines to improve the lives of patients diagnosed with cancer. We are driven by the strength, tenacity and courage of those battling cancer – single-minded in our resolve to deliver new therapies that not only keep cancer at bay, but improve the lives of patients diagnosed with cancer. Because for us, it’s personal.
Our first FDA approved product is now available for the treatment of patients with certain types of indolent non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (iNHL). Our pipeline comprises product candidates that seek to treat cancer by modulating the local tumor microenvironment. For more information, please visit www.verastem.com.