Trine prof raising money for LLS as Visionary of the Year

As a former business owner and coach, and now faculty member and director of Trine University’s Center for Sports Studies, Brandon Podgorski knows the importance of vision.

This spring, he has a vision to help support those undergoing treatment for leukemia and lymphoma.

Podgorski, associate professor of sport management in Trine’s Ketner School of Business, has been selected as a Visionary of the Year by the northeast Indiana chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).

From Feb. 29 through May 9, he will lead a team of family and friends seeking to raise at least $50,000 for LLS. The funds Podgorski’s team raises will specifically go towards supporting patients and their families who are battling blood cancers.

“When I was first presented with this opportunity, I thought of my friend Angie and her son Miles, who was diagnosed with leukemia at a very young age. After years of treatments, he’s now in remission and living a normal college life, thankfully,” Podgorski said.

The LLS holds its Visionaries of the Year fundraising campaign each year. Podgorski was contacted about participating in November by a representative from the northeast Indiana chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

All donations received will support LLS’s overall mission to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease, and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families.

“This is an organization that is making an impact with the dollars it raises, and I’m proud to be associated with LLS,” said Podgorski.

If Podgorski’s team reaches its goal by May 9, the team’s name will be connected to an LLS-funded research portfolio to honor their efforts to help people with blood cancers.

For more information, visit Podgorski’s Visionaries of the Year page at pages.lls.org/voy/in/nein24/bpodgorski