Ga. teen born while mom battled cancer fights for cure

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. - Cancer stories with happy endings are somewhat rare, but that will change if 17 year old Philip Koster has anything to do with it...and he does.

The Junior at Northview High School in Johns Creek had a connection to Leukemia before he was even born as his mom Renee was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia when she was four months pregnant with him.  She beat the odds and he was born healthy before a life threatening relapse a few years later.  After a bone marrow transplant and a three year battle, she was finally cancer free when Philip was seven years old.

Despite modern medicine and technological advances, the Leukemia survival rate has remained stagnant for about the last 20 years, and Philip is making it his personal mission to do something about it.  He is one of 15 students in the metro-Atlanta who participated in the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Student of the Year campaign.  The mission, to raise as much money for research over a six week period.  Through donations and creative fundraisers like his "The Great Tape Up", Koster raised more than $20,000.  He was also honored with the Mission Focus Award at last week's Student of the Year Grand Finale Gala for best communicating the mission of the LLS. 

By the way, the 15 students combined to raise $210,285.

He wants more families who have been touched by cancer to experience the happy ending that his family is thankful for every day.  He has created the hashtag #Time2CureLeukemia.

For more information on the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Student of the Year campaign, go to https://www.lls.org/georgia/article/student-of-the-year.  And it's not too late if you would like to donate, the following is a link to Philip's donation page, http://events.lls.org/pages/ga/soyga2016/Philip.