Congratulations to
The 2009 Man & Woman of the Year:

Rev. Scott A. Nocton and Krysta Schultz! 

Nocton, a Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church, raised $32,865 to advance the mission of LLS.  A leukemia survivor himself, he dedicated his campaign to the friends he had made while going through treatment, who had passed away.  Schultz raised $17,069; she is a Project Manager at Medco Health Solutions.  Schultz was motivated by the opportunity to help others in need, and set a goal for herself to raise as much as she possibly could to fund blood cancer research.  Both winners will be featured in a national USA Today advertisement, and in local bus and magazine advertisements throughout the month of September. 

Man & Woman of the Year is a unique fundraising campaign in which business and community leaders vie for the prestigious titles of Man & Woman of the Year. During the ten-week campaign, candidates raise funds in honor of The Boy & Girl of the Year. At the end of the campaign, the top fundraising man and woman are named The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Man & Woman of the Year.

This year nine amazing candidates competed for the titles, and raised a combined $125,000.  Thank you to each of our candidates for putting their heart and soul into such an important cause, and congratulations on an excellent campaign!

MEET ALL OF THE 2009 CANDIDATES

Melissa Abdouch
Donate to Melissa's Campaign
Melissa Abdouch, a Senior Financial Analyst for the Hartford in Woodbury, is the mother of daughter, Alex (13), and sons, Andrew (10) and Avery (9).  She is engaged to LaRon Skaare, and is looking forward to being step-mom to LaRon's sons Jeremy (24) and Brandon (20).  Melissa and her family have been supporting LLS for many years in memory of her niece Jessica.  "The nomination to run for Woman of the Year fits in with my family's own mission to help find a cure for blood cancers," says Melissa.  "We're thrilled and honored with this opportunity!"  In fact, this will be Melissa's second year running for Woman of the Year!  Her other passions include serving as a Girl Scout leader for her daughter's troop, volunteering at area homeless shelters, watching her sons play ball, and dancing. 

Adam Johnson
Donate to Adam's Campaign
Adam Johnson, a Marketing Projects Director with the Saint Paul Convention & Visitors Authority, accepted the nomination for Man of the Year as a personal challenge.  Cancer has affected many people in his family, and Adam sees this as an opportunity to help prevent cancer from affecting future generations.  He also is founder of The Chadder, a networking and volunteering organization in Saint Paul with more than 400 participants.  The Chadder brings young professionals together to network and give back to the Saint Paul community.  In his eight years working in Saint Paul, Adam has developed an extensive network of friends and colleagues, and is confidant that this network will step up to the plate to support The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.  Adam also serves on the boards of the CapitolRiver Council, Arts & Culture Partnership and Forecast Public Art.  In his free time, Adam enjoys reading, writing, golfing and playing flag football. 

Wendy Kaufmann
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Wendy Kaufmann is an Executive Board Member for mmore (Multiple Myeloma Opportunities for Research & Education).  Wendy accepted her nomination in honor of her niece, Sarah, who was diagnosed with multiple myeloma at the age of 22.  Following a stem cell transplant and other treatments, Sarah is in remission.  She recently graduated with her RN degree, went sky-diving, and completed her first triathlon!  However, multiple myeloma is a tough cancer to beat and Sarah's doctors have said it will likely come back.  Because of this, Wendy and her family have made it their mission to raise funds for myeloma research, and to accelerate the seach for a cure.  "Sarah's youth, positive attitude and otherwise good health give us hope that she will remain in remission until a cure is found," says Wendy.  "But we can't just sit here and hope.  Research dollars are needed to find effective treatments, and that's why the Man & Woman of the Year campaign is so important!" 

Kala McKinnon
Donate to Kala's Campaign
Kala McKinnon, a Staffing Consultant at Express Employment Professionals in Eagan, was nominated to run for Woman of the Year by her colleague, Cammie Lillehaug, who also happens to be the 2004 Woman of the Year.  The decision to accept the nomination was easy, as Kala is an acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) survivor.  Kala was diagnosed in October 2002, in the middle of her junior year of high school and began treatment at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, even though it meant being away from her home in Warroad, MN.  After extensive chemotherapy and radiation, and a relapse, Kala received a bone marrow transplant from an unrelated donor in April of 2004.  Treatment was challenging, and doctors had warned Kala that she may get behind in school.  Kala, however, was determined to stay positive and worked diligently with a tutor in order to graduate from high school on time.  She even walked across the stage in the ceremony just 14 days after being released from the hospital! Kala also defied predictions by attending college at the University of Minnesota - Duluth the next fall, even though she was often too tired to walk up a flight of stairs.  Kala believes that a positive attitude can make a world of difference when facing a challenge.  She has accepted her nomination because she wants to give back to LLS and to show those who battle cancer that there is hope! 

Rev. Scott A. Nocton
Donate to Scott's Campaign
Rev. Scott A. Nocton, a Pastor at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fridley, and his wife Christine have been married for 19 years, and they have three beautiful daughters: Jordan (16), Paige (12), and Isabelle (11).  Scott was diagnosed in October 2007 with acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and began his treatment at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids.  During those early days he grew very close to the four other people who started treatment at the same time.  He called them his Mercy Hospital Family.  In February 2008 Scott moved to the University of Minnesota where he received a bone marrow transplant with marrow that was donated by his sister, who was a 100% match.  After many complications, including a bout with graft vs. host disease and some very scary moments, Scott was released from the hospital on June 18, 2008 and declared cancer-free.  Unfortunately, the other four members from Scott's Mercy Hospital Family had passed away in the time he'd been gone.  Scott has accepted his nomination for Man of the Year to honor these friends, and to continue to fight for them.  He hopes to raise $50,000, so he can have an LLS research grant named in honor of the four friends he lost: Walt Day, Bill Dignan, Mike Larson, and Bonnie Stjern. 

Katherine Poindexter
Donate to Katherine's Campaign
When Katherine Poindexter, a Relationship Manager at Smith Barney, was just 7 years old, she lost her best friend to leukemia.  As an adult, she again lost a friend to leukemia on New Year's Eve 2008.  Katherine accepted her nomination to run for Woman of the Year because she is, as she puts it, "done with cancer."  Katherine says her goal is for her and the other candidates to raise enough money to find a cure.  "The only way to truly be done with cancer is to find a cure," she says.  Katherine is married to Glen Matthews and has two children, Jacob (12) and Madeline (9).  In addition to being active in many organizations, Katherine enjoys gardening, skiing and participating in triathlons. 

Krysta Schultz
Donate to Krysta's Campaign
Krysta Schultz, a Project Manager for Medco Health Solutions, received her Woman of the Year nomination from several of her Medco colleagues: Scott Gilyard, the 2006 Man of the Year, Kelly Lagnese, 2007 Woman of the Year, and Michelle Kelly, 2008 Woman of the Year.  "When the nomination was presented to me, I knew this was an amazing opportunity to help others in need," said Krysta.  Krysta is a graduate of the College of Saint Benedict, where she ran on the track team and wrote on the college paper, The Record.  Krysta enjoys traveling, spending time with her husband Jesse, and playing with their new puppy Winston.

Val Svenningsen
Donate to Val's Campaign
Val Svenningsen, a Compliance Manager with Wells Fargo, first became involved with LLS in 2006 when she signed up to run a marathon with LLS's Team In Training program.  "It was my 25th marathon and I really wanted to do something to make it count!" Val says.  Since then, Val has brought her marathon total to 26!  When she's not running, Val enjoys long dinners with her husband, Scott, and taking family vacations with their children, six-year-old Jack and four-year-old Mia.  Both children are happy and healthy, which make Val feel very fortunate.  She accepted her nomination for Woman of the Year because she wants to give something back.

Theresa Tighe
Donate to Theresa's Campaign
Theresa Tighe, a graduate of Creighton University, is a Catering Sales Manager at the W Minneapolis - The Foshay.  Over the years, Theresa has been very active in many non-profit organizations.  While working in St. Louis, she helped plan fundraising galas for an organization that helped women escape domestic abuse.  Since returning to Minneapolis last summer, Theresa had been looking for an organization to donate her time to, so accepting her nomination was an easy decision.  When she isn't working, Theresa enjoys travel, reading, working out, and spending time with friends and family. 

The 2010 campaign will kick off in April, and conclude with a Grand Finale Gala in June.  For more information contact Cathy Swanson Girsch at (763) 852-3014.