Just two months after joining Cure Quest, the fight against blood cancer became personal for junior Lauren Lockhart after a family friend’s daughter got diagnosed with leukemia at the age of three.

“It was the craziest thing ever,” Lockhart said. “I feel like you never think that cancer is going to impact your life until it does.”

According to Blood Cancer United, an organization dedicated to curing blood cancer and improving the quality of life of those affected by it, blood cancer impacts an estimated 1,759,461 people in the United States. This includes leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). Blood Cancer United also empowers students to get involved in the fight against blood cancer through student visionary teams such as Cure Quest Dallas.

Team Cure Quest is a Dallas-based team that focuses on the “patient support” pillar of Blood Cancer United. Cure Quest raises funds for blood cancer research and support for the patients and families affected by it. Most of these funds go directly to their One-on-One Support program, which provides free, personalized assistance to their blood cancer patients. Within the past two years, Cure Quest has raised over $230,000 for Blood Cancer United.

Lockhart is the Candidate of Cure Quest, meaning she leads the seven-week fundraising campaign and handles administrative tasks, such as hosting meetings and organizing fundraising events.

One of the main ways they fundraise is through the annual Hope Healing Cancer Music Festival at the Grenada Theater, typically during late February. It was originally led by another group of student visionaries, Hope Healing Cancer, and then passed on to Team Cure Quest. The festival features various bands and a silent auction for fundraising.

This year, Team Cure Quest worked with Team Blood Seat and Cure to raise over $64,000 to fight blood cancer.

“We’re very big on how music has the power to heal,” Lockhart said. “We wanted to use our passion to advocate and raise money for this cause, so we got involved with the festival.”

Other events include Breakfast for a Cause at Resident Taqueria, Dine & Donate at Penne Pomodoro and more.

Sophomore Kyle Pinkus, also a board member, said that with planning comes challenges of getting businesses on board and engaged.

“You have to constantly be sending out texts and emails to them because they’ll forget about them or not take you seriously at first,” Pinkus said. “It’s hard to get people to really care about it and want to donate money.”

But the challenges of asking for help are worth it to fight blood cancer. This notion keeps Pinkus focused on the bigger picture and her reason for joining the team.

“I feel like blood cancer is a huge problem in the world,” Pinkus said. “I joined to improve the quality of life and give opportunities for more resources to people affected by blood cancer.”

While Pinkus’s involvement derives from awareness of the issue, junior Kate McAtee has a personal connection to blood cancer.

“A close family member of mine was diagnosed with blood cancer,” McAtee said. “I know a lot of people who are experiencing blood cancer, so I thought it was a good cause and a good way to show them my support of their journey.”

She said seeing the support from those around her is her favorite part of joining Cure Quest.

“When I was reaching out to some of my family friends, they were so happy to donate to our campaign,” McAtee said. “It’s just really cool to see how many people are supportive of my family members and their diagnosis.”

McAtee said the organization is open to anyone interested.

“Ask someone who you know is involved,” McAtee said. “Anyone can help out, especially if they’re hardworking and want to be a part of the cause.”