Nearly ten years ago to this day, I lost my only parent to one of this world's deadliest diseases, lung cancer. Words cannot explain how devastated it makes me that a decade after her loss, a cure has yet to be found. Being without siblings, and having lost my father at the age of two to a heart attack, I stand as just a single story out of thousands, if not millions of similar situations worldwide of mothers, fathers, siblings, sons, daughters, nieces and nephews, uncles and aunts, grandparents, and close friends to so many who have been taken from us to something we should strive harder to find the cure on every day. For the last two and a half years of her life, my mother, Marla Elise Diamond Cohen hid from me critical battle she so intensely fought every single day, only to prevent a young adolescent version of myself from living a content childhood, and doing what she wanted most, to succeed in school and my extra-curriculars. Today, it is because of her that I wake up every day and strive to be the best version of myself in everything I do, and everything I have done for the past ten years. For my situation, and the millions of others around the world, it is with your help that we can help expedite the research towards a cure not just for lung cancer, but for cancer in general. I will be making an initial donation of $1,500 to initiate the fundraiser, and of course, anything is extremely appreciated. Thank you all so much; I love you all.
