**This program has ended**

Last week we launched Play2Cures, a website where you can help us raise $100,000 in 100 days by playing casual games. We launched in collaboration with PledgePlay, a company born out of father Jim Carol’s experience with dealing with his son, Taylor, being diagnosed with leukemia. Check out the video that talks more about Taylor's story.

So how does Play2Cures work?

Make a pledge. First you pledge any amount you prefer (minimum is $10) with your credit card – don’t worry your credit card information is secure. Each dollar you pledge gets you one Game Token, and one token can be used to play one game.

Play a game. Now that you have at least 10 tokens you can play one of five games: Putt Nutz (a little like miniature golf), SudokuSave (a cross between Sudoku and Tetris), Seven Solitaire (basic solitaire – but with fun music and animations), Ladybug (you need good eye-hand coordination) and MusicCatch (a bit mesmerizing).

Share those tokens. If you don’t think you can use all of your tokens or if you think a friend would enjoy playing games to cure blood cancers, you can email them and share some of your tokens.

Take a look at the leaderboard. If you’re the competitive type, swing by the rankings page to see how you compare to your fellow gamers.

Playing online casual games might not be your cup of tea (I’ll admit I’m pretty hooked on games myself), but remember you can still donate and give all of those tokens away to someone who does like to play. You can also show your support by posting one of our web badges on your website or social networking page.

There are also many other ways to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. You can send us a donation, participate in one of our events, volunteer – and much more.

Learn more about Play2Cures via our press release and lls.play2cures.org.

September is an important month for us at The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). It is a special time when our ongoing collaboration with patients, caregivers and medical professionals is highlighted by our campaign for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma awareness. Please join us in this campaign to educate more people about blood cancer.

Here are some quick facts* you can share on your own websites, blogs, social networks or in conversations with friends.

• Today more than 894,000 people in the United States are living with a type of blood cancer.

• Today about 75 percent of children with acute leukemia and nearly 80 percent of children and adults with Hodgkin lymphoma are cured.

• Every ten minutes someone dies from a blood cancer.

• An estimated 52,910 people will die from a blood cancer this year.

• Since LLS began in 1949, our organization has invested more than $600 million in research to find cures and better therapies.

• This year alone, LLS will dedicate $71.4 million to research.

Another thing you can do this month is help our Public Policy team work to get September officially recognized as Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma Awareness Month by your state. How does this help? It ensures that there will be more media coverage around the month, which means more people will learn about blood cancers. It also means more people could support the fight to eradicate cancer. Contact your local LLS chapter to learn more about how you can help.

Learn more about leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma on the LLS website at www.LLS.org, or contact the Information Resource Center with any blood cancer questions.

*Note that these statistics are for leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma only.