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.”

Maria Sacchetti was an 18-year-old beauty queen in her freshman year of college when she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, stage 2A. She started treatment shortly after: It took four rounds of chemo, three weeks of radiation, three wigs, seven Harry Potters, and four Twilight books before she was done. As she says, “It was the most challenging thing I never had a choice in doing.” Maria first heard about LLS through her cancer center—she applied for financial aid, and was fortunate to receive funds from LLS to cover her travel costs for treatment. Later that year, her cousin—whose father is a 35-year survivor of Hodgkin’s Lymphoma—invited Maria to walk with her team at Light the Night. It was the first of what would become many walks for Maria, walking in honor of her uncle and herself. Now that she’s involved, she realizes how much more there is to do: “We’ve done so much, but we still have a long way to go.”

On August 31, 2012, when Mariah Rivera was 8 years old, she was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. She went through 27 months of chemotherapy and a severe flu before what became the happiest day of her life: She was told by the doctors that she was in remission. When later given a wish by the Make a Wish Foundation, Mariah asked for something not many young girls do. Instead of a shopping spree or a Disney trip or a meeting with Justin Bieber, Mariah said, “I WANT TO MEET BARACK OBAMA!!”. Her wish was granted and she’ll never forget it. And as for joining Light the Night in New York City? Mariah’s grandmother saw an ad about it on the subway home one day, and immediately decided to sign them all up!

Meet Jake Buerkle—a sweet, goofy Star Wars fan and pediatric cancer patient. When Jake was just six years old, he was diagnosed with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). He immediately started aggressive chemotherapy and is now just over halfway through a three-and-a-half-year treatment plan. After Jake was diagnosed his mother, Susan, rallied the family together to create a friends and family team—Jake’s Jedi’s—for their local Staten Island Light The Night. To date they have raised close to $10,000 for the cause! But, as Susan says, “It’s still not enough… Money raised means lives saved. Even one death is too many.” Join Susan and Jake in the fight against blood cancers—walk with Light the Night.

As a teenager, Alec Feintuch was always into sports. So when he could no longer keep up with teammates he used to outrun, and he came home from school each day only to fall asleep for hours, he knew that something was off. On June 2, 2010, he was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma. Alec he was only 15 years old and finishing up his freshman year of high school, and his life was about to change more than he could have imagined. The finals he was partway through were abandoned, and he went straight into 6 rounds of aggressive chemotherapy. It was during the sixth round that his family reached out to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and discovered that their annual Light The Night event was just a month away. They signed up as a family and raised around $25,000! The Feintuch family hasn’t missed a year with Light The Night since, and isn’t planning to any time soon.