Torrey Pines student hosts Sweat for a Cure on Feb. 3

Torrey Pines High School senior Sophia LeRose is hosting Sweat for the Cure, a cardio boot camp at Torrey Pines’ Ed Burke Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 3 benefitting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. The hour-long boot camp will be led by local fitness instructors Cindy Whitmarsh and Lisa Stettner.

Sophia was given the opportunity to be a candidate for Student of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, a seven-week fundraising competition among 13 other students in San Diego County. The winner will be announced at a Grand Finale Gala on Feb. 24.

“I have a deep, personal connection to this cause, having watched my beloved grandfather, Leonard LeRose, lose his fight to leukemia on Sept. 12, 2017,” Sophia said.

Sophia is the current Associated Student Body (ASB) president at Torrey Pines and a Falcon field hockey and lacrosse player. She is also one of the co-founders of the nonprofit Female Athlete Volunteers, which she started in 2012. The group has grown in size over the last several years and has added a middle school chapter.

Sweat for a Cure will begin at 10 a.m. with introductions about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and the hour-long session with Whitmarsh, KUSI fitness expert and personal trainer, and Stettner, a fitness instructor at Crunch Carmel Valley. Following the workout, there will be a raffle and vendor booths.

Sophia said that LLS’s continued advancements over the years are responsible for the blood cancer survival rate doubling, tripling and, in some cases, the survival rate has even quadrupled. Donations not only support LLS research but patient services, advocacy, public and professional education and community services as well.

“Many LLS-supported therapies not only help blood cancer patients but are now used to treat patients with rare forms of stomach and skin cancers,” Sophia said. “They’re even being tested in clinical trials for patients with a range of cancers, including lung, brain, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancers.”

Additionally, LLS-funded drugs are being tested for patients with other non-cancerous diseases such as diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and Multiple Sclerosis.

Sweat for a Cure is open to all ages for a requested $20 donation. For more on the boot camp, visit bit.ly/2D1jH6g

To donate to Sophia LeRose’s Student of the Year campaign, visit bit.ly/2mjUqKe