KENT, Conn.—Anna James, a fifth-former at Kent School, her roommate, Zoe Karafotas, and their Courage Over Cancer team of nine other students, raised $124,000 this spring for Blood Cancer United.
The campaign was part of Greater Connecticut Student Visionaries of the Year and the students set a new record as the first six-figure team in their region to date.
“I am very proud to say that my team won making me the Student Visionary of the Year and my team member, Zoe Karafotas, got overall team member of the Year,” she wrote in a letter to the Kent Dispatch. “In honor of my grandpa, who had AML leukemia, we have requested that available funds be directed specifically to research and treatment for AML.”
The teens originally set out to raise $85,000. With only two weeks to go in early March they had amassed $74,000 and managed to almost double it by the end of the campaign on March 19.
The team was united by shared personal experiences with blood cancers and earned the top title at a gala in Stamford. The team raised the money through private donations, a bake sale, a hockey game and the like.
The mission of Blood Cancer United [BCU] is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma. BCU has invested over $1.8 billion in research.
“My team is particularly passionate about patient education and support and will be raising awareness of the work being done in this area of Blood Cancer United …,” she wrote in her candidate application to become a Visionary. “I also hope that there is a way for patients to recognize symptoms earlier in hopes to get care needed for a better chance of surviving.”
