KENT, Conn.—An 11-person team formed by Kent School students Anna Sullivan and Zoe Karafotos is in the closing stages of a vigorous campaign to raise $85,000 to help fund research into cures for blood cancers.
To date, they have raised more than $74,000, with about two weeks to go before the drive closes on March 19. The team has raised the money through private donations, a bake sale, a hockey game and the like. Those who wish to help the teens reach their goal can do so here.
The fifth formers were accepted as part of Blood Cancer United’s Student Visionaries program. 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.
In addition, BCU, formerly the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, offers blood cancer education, travel assistance, personal guidance for those who can do trials, online and in-person support groups, as well as nutrition counseling.
Every year, teen teams embark on seven-week fundraising missions. While the Anna and Zoe’s team is competing in the Greater Connecticut campaign, BCU is a national program with high school students competing all across the country.
Indeed, the Kent team is composed of young people gathered from five states, the District of Columbia and two foreign countries, Canada and Ghana.
“All the team members are from Kent School except for one of my best friends, who attends school in Florida,” said Anna.
“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.”
Five of the students on the team have had personal experience with cancer in their families. Anna lost her grandfather to leukemia in 2020, while her roommate, Zoe Karafotos, never had a chance to meet her grandmother, Joan Karafotas. Karafotas died of lymphoma in 1987 at the age of 45 and was the first human to be treated with interferon, a genetically engineered substance doctors use as an alternative to natural interferon.
Two other team members have lost grandparents and one team member, Anna’s Florida friend, is the daughter of a survivor.
The young people understand the strain that cancer imposes on a family and the emotional toll of losing loved ones to the disease. Anna, for instance, speaks of her “heartbreak” at losing her grandfather during the Covid shutdown and not being able to say goodbye.
But the campaign has had an unexpected benefit, according to Lisa Smith Sullivan, Anna’s mother.
“Peter Karafotas remembers [his mother’s fight against cancer] but he didn’t talk to his girls about it,” she reported. “It was hard for him to talk about it. Now Peter is able to talk about it to his kids. He even made cookies to sell at the team’s bake sale. And Noah Backstrom [the Florida student] has been able to ask her mom more questions about her experience. So, it’s not only that they have raised money, it’s been healing for members of the team.”
Lisa Sullivan has been able to arrange a tour for Zoe of the MD Anderson Hospital in Houston, Texas, where her grandmother received the world’s first interferon shot. “MD Anderson is not open to the public anymore,” she said, “but I had enough contacts to reach out and one of their leukemia cancer specialists will give her a tour. She will walk in her grandmother’s footsteps—it will be special for her.”
“When I lost my grandfather in 2020, my family was fortunate that we had support available, we were close to good hospitals, and the doctors were knowledgeable,” said Anna. “But many families do not have resources and support that we had to get through this time.”
Her campaign, dubbed the Art Sullivan Legacy Drive, is named for her grandfather and she hopes it can become a Legacy Drive, continuing into future years at Kent School.
Lisa, who has helped her daughter organize the campaign, said her late father-in-law would be delighted to have the mission continue, even if under a different name.
“We want to transition this,” she said. “The two girls will teach other students how to present, how to fundraise, how to brand, and hopefully mentor kids so it can be kept going.”
