Please join us for lunch!

For our meeting Monday, March 7, 2022, we welcome Amanda Dupre, Campaign Development Director for the Midlands, Upstate and CSRA Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS).

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Amanda has worked for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) for over 5 years now, working mostly on the Man & Woman of the Year (MWOY) campaign.  The MWOY campaign is a philanthropic competition to support blood cancer research among a group of motivated and dedicated individuals in communities across the United States.  Candidates form powerful fundraising teams and compete in honor of a local childhood blood cancer survivor.  The man and woman who have raised the most funds during the ten-week campaign are awarded the prestigious title of Man or Woman of the year in their community.  The man and woman who have raised the most across the entire US will be recognized as the national Man & Woman of the Year!

Amanda first wanted to get involved with LLS because her father is a 13-year Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) survivor.  AML is one of the deadliest types of leukemia, luckily her father had a subtype that was very curable!  Then just this past July, Amanda’s mother was diagnosed with a different type of blood cancer, Multiple Myeloma, which attacks the bone marrow.  There is no cure for Multiple Myeloma, but treatments help prolong the prognosis.  Just last month her mother underwent a stem cell transplant.  She first had a strong dose of chemotherapy to wipe out her immune system, then they used her own cells that were cleaned and modified to transplant back to her.  She is currently doing well but will have to stay isolated for the next 6-12 months while her body’s immune system builds back up from the new cells.   She will also have to get all her vaccines again, from birth all the way to the covid vaccines, since she has a brand-new immune system. 

Amanda is proud to work for LLS as they are making huge advances in the cancer platform.  The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s mission is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.  Since 2017 LLS has helped advance 75% of the blood cancer treatment options approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration).