MILWAUKEE — Every year, the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society holds its Student Visionaries of the Year award competition for teams around the country.
This year, in the Eastern Wisconsin Region, team Answer for Cancer is hoping to change lives. It's a vision that started with Liam Mullen, who is fighting for people like his mom, who has beaten cancer three times in her life. The most recent time was when Liam was in middle school.
"I kind of still get flashbacks today of how it felt," Mullen said. "The isolated feeling just thinking about my mom in the hospital and what she was going through."
Six years later, his mother, Marita, is healthy, and it fuels Liam's goal.
"Instead of becoming a victim of the suffering," Liam said. "Finding the meaning of it."
On Friday, Liam and his team hosted a fundraiser at the Milwaukee Athletic Club.
Liam's team consists of dozens of students from around the area. One of those teammates, John Daniels IV, also has family members who beat cancer.
"Seeing their drive and their determination while battling cancer," Daniels said about his two aunts who beat cancer. "Knowing that I can put my time and resources towards something like this because I know how it affects them."
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While Answer for Cancer can't share how much money they've made through their fundraiser until the final day on April 12, the group has a goal of $200,000 throughout the seven-week program.
And you can help, a link to their fundraising page can be found here.
The rest of the teams in Eastern Wisconsin can be found here.
"Just knowing my friends who are maybe on different teams, who are campaigning for the same reason, knowing that we're all working towards this collective goal to make some good change," Daniels said.
And regardless of who wins, Marita is proud all the teams are raising money for a good cause.
"I am so proud of them because no matter if we're number one, number two, or number three," Marita said. "All that money is going to cancer."
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