Cy-Fair High School Junior Raises $500K for Cancer Research, Named 2024 Houston Student Visionary of the Year
Cy-Fair High School Junior Dylan Carroll was named 2024 Houston Student Visionary of the Year at the annual Houston Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) Student Visionary Gala on March 2. Dylan raised more than $500,000 for the LLS Student Visionaries of the Year campaign.
For Dylan, this achievement is more than a fundraiser. Dylan’s younger sister, Drew, was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at the age of 3. In hopes of raising awareness, Dylan formed a team to compete in the LLS Student Visionary campaign to raise money towards research to find a cure.
“I watched my sister fight this awful disease for 2 1/2 years,” said Dylan. “She went from a crazy annoying three-year-old to a sick and tired cancer kid overnight. Some nights I’d watch my mom frantically take my sister to the hospital because she had a fever and needed to make sure she was OK, and other days Drew was too sick to even laugh or play with me. I prayed every night that my sister would no longer have cancer and on Aug. 31, 2016, Drew finally rang the bell for her final treatment.”
The LLS Student Visionary campaign is a seven-week campaign where high school students in the Greater Houston area form teams and raise money to benefit LLS. Dylan’s team consisted of 15 Cy-Fair High School students.
Dylan Carroll, center, is joined by her sister, Drew Carroll, right, as she accepts the Houston LLS Student Visionary award “The saddest part of this story is that 1 in 285 families will experience exactly what we experienced, and some may experience even worse,” said Dylan. “That’s because the National Cancer Institute has a budget of only 4 percent for childhood cancer research and the other 96 percent goes to adult cancers that are typically diagnosed after the age of 50.”
Dylan’s classmate and family friend, Luke Beasley, was also on Dylan’s team and individually helped raise more than $50,000 towards the overall team goal of $500,000.
“I met Drew’s family after meeting her big sister Dylan during our freshman year of high school,” said Luke. “After quickly becoming friends, I met the whole family and heard about her sister, Drew. I knew I would someday need to find a way to help. All the heartbreaking stories that Dylan told me, tore me apart. One story that sticks out is when Dylan was with Drew and their dad in the car when they got the call. Dylan would need to get dropped off at her grandparents and Drew would be admitted to the hospital. More than a week later, without seeing Drew or her parents, Dylan was able to see Drew. Drew looked different than Dylan had remembered, and this hurt Dylan. I knew there had to be a way to raise awareness for this!”
Dylan’s team, More than Four, raised a total of $515,000, surpassing the previous record amount raised by an individual team of $325,000. Twenty-five student teams competed throughout the Greater Houston area raising a total of $2,750,000 for childhood blood cancer research.
“This year Dylan invited me to join her team and I’m so glad she did,” said Luke. “God called me to do my part and help raise awareness around this disease that is often overlooked during budgeting. Because of the lack of funding for childhood cancer, Drew was given chemotherapy needed for adults. The effects this chemo has on Drew will continue to affect her as her body develops. This was my opportunity to help, so I was determined to put my head down and do the work.”
Cy-Fair High School Junior Luke Beasley, right, poses with Drew Carroll, left at Kendra Scott fund raising event Over the course of seven weeks, the team held garage sales, bake sales, bingo nights and karaoke nights to raise money towards their goal. Students on the team also pitched their fundraising efforts to local businesses who hosted events to help them reach their goal.
“The lack of funding for childhood blood cancer is a huge problem,” said Luke. “There are people out there who want to help so if you really want to make a difference, you just have to get out there and do the work.”
The Carroll family has been involved with the Houston LLS for more than seven years. Stephanie Carroll, Dylan and Drew’s mother, was named Woman of the Year in 2017 by the Houston LLS and raised $291,000 towards childhood blood cancer research.
“We really couldn’t have done any of this without the Cy-Fair community,” said Dylan. “We’re really blessed to have such a strong support system. I’ve had the support of my friends and their families since kindergarten and it’s great to see how many people really love and support our family. To have over 2,000 people donate just shows how unique and special this community really is.”
Drew has been in remission for more than seven years and is now an active seventh grade student at Hamilton Middle School.
Source: CFISD
