Calling on the community to fight leukemia and lymphoma

MILLERTON — The Big Grill restaurant on Route 22 in Millerton will hold a fundraiser event on Saturday, July 30, to raise money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.Lynne Dagata is one of the fundraiser’s organizers. She was diagnosed with a rare form of incurable leukemia six years ago.Leukemia is a type of cancer that affects the blood or bone marrow. Lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic cells in the immune system and it often spreads to the bone marrow and the blood.Leukemia and lymphoma are both hematological malignancies, which includes all cancers of the blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes.Both are listed by the National Cancer Institute as some of the most common cancer types in the United States. According to the National Cancer Institute’s chart, there are an estimated 44,600 new cases of leukemia every year and an estimated 66,360 new cases of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The chart also reports there are an estimated 21,780 leukemia-related deaths every year and an estimated 19,320 non-Hodgkin lymphoma-related deaths.Dagata participated in her first Light the Night Walk ­— a fundraiser held around the country numerous times every year by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society — shortly after receiving her diagnosis. She got involved with fundraising for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society not too long after that.She has spent years as a fundraising team captain, but the fundraiser event at the Big Grill will be the first one she has helped organize.“I’m involved because I truly believe it’s a great charity,” she said. “It’s kinda my therapy to get through what I get through.”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.” The society funds research projects to help find cures for blood cancers, provides free information and support services for blood cancer patients and helps patients afford necessary treatments.“If it wasn’t for [the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society], I wouldn’t be here,” said Dagata, who had a lot of her treatments paid for with help from the society.Dagata said that the society is not only a “great resource,” but it is “an unbelievable support” that provides a community of people who help one another through every aspect of their journey with blood cancer.She believes it is important to spread the word about blood cancers and the work of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.“Everyone knows someone with cancer,” she said, mentioning that blood cancers hit closer to home than many people realize.She has been working throughout Dutchess County to raise awareness about the society and the cause.“I want to see a cure,” she said. “The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is there to help people. That’s what they do. It’s an invaluable tool [for those affected by blood cancers].”Last year, hundreds of people participated in the Light the Night Walk held in Poughkeepsie, which was organized by the upstate New York chapter of the organization.This year’s walk will be held in Rhinebeck at the Dutchess County Fair Grounds on Sept. 17.The walk is organized by volunteers, many of whom are blood cancer patients or friends and family members of blood cancer patients.Dagata said that the walk brings awareness and makes the disease less scary for those affected by it.“It’s a comfort thing,” she said.She encourages everyone to join a fundraising team and participate in the walk.For more information about the Light the Night Walks, visit www.lightthenight.org. To join Dagata’s team, visit https://pages.lightthenight.org/uny/poughkee11/LDagata. For more information about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit www.lls.org.

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