Last summer, junior Isabelle Albert was busy isolating phage bacteria and viruses during her one week research camp, which took place at Webster University.

Little did she know this camp would open up a brand new opportunity for her: The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

“One of our teacher assistants did this program a couple years ago and now is on the leadership board. [Now] he is studying oncology,” she said. “One day at lunch, he and I were talking and he ended up nominating me [for this initiative].”

According to their website, LLS is a non-profit organization dedicated to raising money and awareness for blood cancer research and advocacy. They have invested more than $1 Billion for cancer research and funded nearly 200 research grants globally.

To Albert, this organization meant more to her, because in 7th Grade, she was hit with life-altering news.

“My mom was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. It was really scary because my parents are divorced, so it was just my mom and I,” she said.

It was nerve wracking for Albert to not know what the future holds. Even after multiple surgeries and treatments, Albert felt like anything could go wrong and her mom could go back to unstable conditions.

“She’s never been fully stable since her diagnosis, which is scary because everybody can always go into remission, but it’s the fact that even after multiple surgeries, after multiple rounds of treatment, her numbers still haven’t been stable. That’s the scariest part,” she said.

Because of this, Albert has always been anxious about her mom’s condition.

“Anybody could have a cough, but when I hear my mom coughing, I get a lot more worried than if I were just to hear my dad or friend coughing,” she said.

With this new opportunity presenting itself, Albert signed up to be a singular candidate under LLS for a goal to raise $50,000.

However, she couldn’t raise this money on her own, thus she started her own small team to help raise money: Team Hope Heroes.

“They advise you to create a team of people who are going to reach out to their circle for money because I only have so many connections,” she said.

The name Team Hope Heroes holds an impact for Albert.

“I’ve seen how cancer has impacted people, how tired it makes my mom and so ultimately I want to give hope to people, especially with financial aspects,” she said.

Albert said that all the money raised can go towards three places: research, advocacy or patients.

“I believe no patient should have to worry about cancer and the financial burden,” she said.

With about 20 people on her team, Albert has until Mar. 7 to raise the necessary amount.

To reach the goal amount, Albert sets up individual weekly goals with her team members. Together, they discuss how much money they could potentially gather from donations.

“We obviously run an Instagram and that’s more towards our school demographic,” Albert said.

Team Hope Heroes also does personal outreach. Albert advises her team members to reach to their parents and friends.

Although the journey has been rewarding, Albert has faced difficult moments balancing her responsibilities and personal life.

“It’s a lot of work. I spend so much time reaching out to people and trying to coach my team,” she said.

She recommends people to truly think about the time commitment.

“If you want to take it on, that’s amazing but you just have to be prepared to dedicate [yourself]. It’s honestly really hard to make an impact against cancer because it’s such a big thing in our society,” she said. “Small things help, but to make that big impact, you have to dedicate yourself.”

Even with these struggles, Albert’s parents remind her of the impact she is making.

“My parents have done an amazing job telling me how proud they are of me because at the end of the day, when I am struggling with that self-doubt, they’ll sit me down and they’ll tell me that what I’ve done is amazing,” she said.

Currently, Team Hope Heroes has raised more than $20,000. Donations can be made through the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society page.

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QR code to donate to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

In March of 2021, Albert’s mom, Van Nguyen noticed a lump on her throat the size of an almond that was not going away.

“I did not need a doctor to tell me it was cancer; I somehow just knew,” she said.

It was in fact cancer. Nguyen was diagnosed with thyroid cancer.

“Thyroid cancer has one of the best survival rates, but any cancer diagnosis is still life-altering,” she said. “I called my primary doctor to make an appointment, and he said I needed to see an ENT doctor. That confirmed my feeling that there was a major health problem going on.”

Nguyen’s mom has also suffered from papillary thyroid cancer in the past but overcame it and is now healthy.

With the suspicion that she might have something similar, Nguyen didn’t tell any family until she had a definite answer.

“I did share with my counselor and sent in prayer requests to my local church and JOY FM during this time. My faith in God has always been paramount to my life, so this was no different,” she said.

However, telling her daughter was the biggest obstacle for her.

“I feel like she has had to endure a lot of my life events like my divorce from her dad, moving a couple times, changing school districts,” she said. “I told Isabelle on a walk one evening with her dogs. Isabelle has a loving and caring heart, so we both cried. One thing that I could positively tell her is that I did not believe I was going to die from this.”

Even with that, sharing the news to other distant family members was hard for Nguyen.

“I would describe myself as independent and resourceful, so sharing this diagnosis and asking for help was difficult,” she said.

Due to the diagnosis, many things changed in both Albert’s and Nguyen’s lives.

“Isabelle and I had to discuss changes to our summer plans [but] I did not want her to feel like she needed to be by my side in perpetuity and give up her interests. I wanted her to also do what she needed to give her peace,” she said.

Nguyen’s cancer journey faced many challenges. Going into her surgery, Nguyen said it took longer than expected and that the cancer existed in numerous lymph nodes in the surrounding area. Her incision was over 9.5 inches long around her neck. Even with that, Nguyen thinks her doctor did an excellent job.

“It was my body that had some surprises for me when he cut into my neck. Thus, the healing took a lot longer than anticipated,” she said.

Throughout her recovery, Nguyen’s body changed.

“I am still struggling to have stable numbers with my bloodwork almost 4 years later. I have had multiple radiation treatments and other medical diagnoses have arisen since my surgery that I have to take medication [for],” she said.

Even with these difficulties, Nguyen’s daughter has been by her side throughout her entire journey fighting cancer.

“Isabelle expresses that she worries often about me. Sometimes, I am so busy that I skip eating, which is not conducive to staying strong. I keep snacks in the car and at my desk to avoid being so weak that I am not productive or helpful. She checks in on me but knows I still have numerous appointments and treatments upcoming for my health,” she said.

Currently with Albert’s Team Hope Heroes, Nguyen feels very proud of Albert for turning hardship into a new opportunity to give back to the community.

“I like to tell Isabelle that she is my favorite person in the whole world. She has amazed me with her intellect and creativity each month of her life. I believe she is an empath for the less fortunate,” she said.

Nguyen has been supporting Albert through providing suggestions and ideas for her team.

“I helped with the kickoff team meeting, weekly incentives and a lot of the administrative aspects,” she said. “We have a Team Member of the Week incentive to recognize those who have gone above and beyond.”

Other than that, Nguyen said that Albert runs the entire team herself.

For Nguyen, this initiative isn’t just about raising funds, it’s about stepping out of your comfort zone.

“The goal is to step out of your comfort zone and move your team forward through encouragement and ideas. Some people may not seem to give a lot when looking at the amount, but when you know they have very little, it is a lot for them,” she said

From her journey and her daughter’s initiative, Nguyen has gained three takeaways:

“Lead from the heart but do not let them break your heart. Celebrate love and be generous. Live fully and faithfully. In the end, it’s not the years in our life that count, it’s the life in our years,” she said.

Through a HOSA group project, junior Alastair Hanna was introduced to Team Hope Heroes by Albert and was interested in this new opportunity.

As a member of the team, Hanna’s main goal is to simply help raise $50,000 for the cause.

Hanna raised over $2,000 by emailing people and using his dad’s business to promote the cause.

“All members typically have the same responsibility of just sending out emails, making sure that you’re raising funds,” he said. “Me, personally, I got my dad’s business to sponsor LLS for a dress down day, so they would pay money to wear jeans and that money would go to LLS which raised over $1,600.”

For Hanna, cancer has impacted his life as he had many relatives and close friends that suffered from cancer.

“Me personally, I have not had someone I know have blood cancer, but there have been a lot of other cases where my relatives, or just family friends or people I know, have had cancer or died from it,” he said.

Hanna believes that cancer may seem so far away from an individual’s life until it impacts you directly.

“It seems so far away until it’s actually a part of your life, and then you realize how truly big of an issue it is,” he said.

One of the biggest impacts for Hanna was when his grandparents passed away.

“Both of my grandparents died from lung cancer, a family-friend died from breast cancer as well, and that was just horrible,” he said.

Hanna said he’s faced some difficulties while raising money.

“It’s kind of hard to figure out who you’re gonna reach out to because I know a lot of people have contacts, but if you don’t have as much, it’s a little more difficult,” he said.

Even with these challenges, Hanna still helps as much as he can to fundraise.