The Law Office of Renkin & Associates has selected, for the second year in a row, a student personally affected by blood cancer as the winner of its Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness Scholarship.
Christina Carone of Dix Hills, New York, was chosen to receive the $1,000 scholarship to support her studies at Touro Law Center, a law school in Long Island, N.Y. Christina’s brother, Rafaello Carone, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2003 and today is a blood cancer survivor. Christina plans to follow her brother and pursue a career in family law.
“I was only a child myself as I witnessed the effect that cancer had on his little body,” Christina Carone said in a press release. “The emotional and financial burden my parents endured eventually led to their marital separation.
“As an attorney, I will advocate for children undergoing chemotherapy treatment, and for children who survived cancer,” she added. “I am very appreciative for this scholarship.”
Richard Renkin, who practices family law in California, established the scholarship in 2014, about a year after being diagnosed with lymphoma. The award’s goal is to increase awareness about blood cancers.
“The diagnosis is devastating,” Renkin said. “I know that first hand. But it simply isn’t true that cancer has to be an end point. And we need to be reminded by hearing from those who’ve continued on.”
Scholarship candidates, in addition to either entering or attending an accredited U.S. law school and maintaining a 3.0 grade average, are asked to submit a short essay describing how blood cancers have impacted their lives. In Carone’s case, her brother’s battle with cancer made her a stronger person.
“I have become an independent, resilient and determined individual with a drive for constant self-improvement,” she wrote in her application. “I have learned that maintaining a positive, optimistic attitude, while working through life’s obstacles, helps one to achieve their ambitions.”
Carone expects to graduate from law school in May 2018, and plans to be an active voice and advocate for cancer survivors who are involved in the judicial system. As an undergraduate at the University of Florida, she served in student government and was active in several charity organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. She also founded her own charity, Coloring 4 Cancer, to provide a positive and entertaining activity for pediatric patients.
“I recruit artists and develop inspiration designs that offer hope and optimism to children affected by cancer,” she said. “Aside from that, I’m also a board member of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. I enjoy organizing fundraisers that raise money for cancer research.”
Renkin is now cancer-free and a strong supporter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) and its efforts this month, Blood Cancer Awareness Month, and every month to advance blood cancer research in pursuit of a cure.
More information on the law firm’s Leukemia & Lymphoma Awareness Scholarship can be found here.
