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The Susanna and Lucy DeLaurentis Charitable Foundation honors the memory and spirit of Lucy DeLaurentis, who died of cystic fibrosis, and Susanna DeLaurentis, who died at age 10 from complications of neuroblastoma.
The Susanna and Lucy DeLaurentis Charitable Foundation
The Scholarship Program
Susanna and Lucy DeLaurentis Memorial Scholarships
The Susanna and Lucy DeLaurentis Memorial Scholarships are awarded each year to college-bound high school seniors with superior academic and extracurricular achievements who contend with a chronic disease or other serious challenge to physical or mental health. Honorees are selected by a committee of the board of directors of the Foundation, along with outside guest readers, and are announced in May, allowing time for presentation at awards ceremonies if appropriate.
The Susanna and Lucy DeLaurentis Memorial Scholarships are awarded in memory of Lucy DeLaurentis, who died of cystic fibrosis on her 29th birthday, and her younger sister, Susanna, who died of cancer at age 10 after spending half her life in cutting-edge experimental treatments at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and Memorial Sloan-Kettering (New York City). Though Susanna missed one entire academic year and large chunks of her other three school years, she kept pace with her classmates by working diligently with tutors in between her severely debilitating treatments. She died two months into her fifth-grade year.
Despite her steadfast devotion to a daily regimen involving a slew of medications and two chest physical therapy treatments twice a day over two-and-a-half decades, Lucy’s health declined somewhat precipitously in her final two years, her death occurring on her 29th birthday at almost the exact time of her birth.
Their spunk, generosity, selfless compassion for the needs of others notwithstanding their own dire condition, and their constant good cheer inspired peers and professionals alike. Susanna’s former teachers were moved to establish a research and scholarship fund in honor of her courage, compassion, and commitment to learning. Lucy was active in raising funds for the memory of her soulmate – and, eventually, herself and all young peeople with lethal diseases, until her own death.
Scholarships are awarded to candidates who best exemplify Susanna’s ironclad determination and quiet, upbeat fortitude in the face of extraordinary challenges.
