Michelle Glarum from North Fort Myers High School receives her Barbara’s Friends Scholarship from the Lee Health Foundation. PHOTO PROVIDED

The Lee Health Foundation has awarded the very first Barbara’s Friends Scholarships to two local high school seniors. This scholarship is designed to allow childhood cancer survivors and children battling blood disorders to pursue their academic goals without financial burden.

Receiving this year’s Barbara’s Friends Scholarships are Michelle Glarum and Mallory Rice. Michelle, a senior at North Fort Myers High School, is living with sickle cell disease. Mallory is a brain cancer survivor and student at Cypress Lake High School.

Both Michelle and Mallory will receive full four-year scholarships to the college of their choice. Both students are looking at Florida colleges. The scholarships are administered through the Southwest Florida Community Foundation.

“Pediatric cancer patients and their families face personal and financial hardships that impact them for the rest of their lives. We created this scholarship to give these survivors the ability to follow their dreams without their families worrying about how to pay for college. Michelle and Mallory are exceptional young women, and I hope these scholarships help them accomplish all of their academic and professional goals,” said Dr. Emad Salman, Regional Medical Officer at Golisano Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida.

Michelle plans to attend State College of Florida Bradenton with a goal of becoming an occupational therapist. She says having grown up with sickle cell, she wants to help others overcome their challenges and obstacles in living with pain and share her lifelong learnings of coping with her own blood disorder to help others.

Cypress Lake High School’s Mallory Rice receives her Barbara’s Friends Scholarship. PHOTO PROVIDED

Mallory plans to start her college career at Florida Southwestern State College and wants to go into the education field, helping children with special needs.

These two scholarships were made possible by generous donations from Lexington Country Club and Madisen’s Match, a celebrity tennis tournament fundraiser. For more information about Barbara’s Friends or to make a donation to help fund treatments or future scholarships for children like Michelle and Mallory, please visit BarbarasFriends.org.