Number of Participants: 120
Hours Donated: 2
Value of Time Served: $2,028
Event Type: Health & Medicine
Sport: Basketball
Date: February 6, 2024
Location:
Nipmuc Regional High School
Pleasant Street, Upton
MA
About:
“This year, I have been nominated as a candidate for the Visionary of the Year for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). LLS is the world’s largest nonprofit dedicated to blood cancer patients, and funds some of the most groundbreaking research projects. My WHY for joining the campaign to help raise money for cancer research is my 5 year old niece, Ava Blazis from Sutton, MA. She was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, a cancer of her blood and bone marrow on March 14, 2023. She will undergo treatment at Dana-Farber and The Jimmy Fund for the next 2 years.
Every day I see her little body fight this awful disease and it is a constant reminder that we need a world without cancer, and most definitely need a world where Ava’s treatment is not 2+ years long. Ava is a beautiful light in this world. My family often says she is my sidekick, my mini-me, and the ongoing joke is I am her favorite. But truly, I am Ava’s sidekick, she is my hero, and she gives me the courage to take part in work like this.
To raise awareness for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, Team Ava (made up of my family, friends, and basketball community) teamed up with local high schools and colleges to raise awareness and money for the LLS, specifically Dare the Dream Campaign . I have been either playing or coaching basketball since I was Ava’s age (5 years old). This season, after coaching for 7+ years, I decided to take the season off to be with Ava during her treatments. I knew that I wanted to keep basketball close to my heart, so I decided to use my basketball platform as a way to raise awareness and money for cancer research, and to show Ava that she is so much more than cancer. To my surprise, Ava is now really into basketball, which of course makes me so happy! I take her with me to games and show her that the sport can bring so much more than wins and losses. It can bring community, friendships, and impact. So far, we have hosted PLAY4LLS/PLAY4AVA games at Assumption University, Elms College, Noble & Greenough, and Oxford High School, Nipmuc Reg. High School, and have 1 game left on February 8th at 6:30 PM at Sutton High School.”
Johanna Annunziata
To learn more please visit: https://pages.lls.org/voy/ma/ma24/TeamAvaLLS
