When Northeastern University student Reese Tiller stood in front of his fraternity brothers last spring and shared the story of his leukemia battle as a teenager, he was met with overwhelming support.
“Instead of ‘Oh my God, I’m so sorry that happened to you,’ it’s ‘Oh my God, tell me more about it: When did this happen? How long did it take? Did you do this or that?’” says Tiller, a third-year student and member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity at Northeastern.
But the support wasn’t just emotional.
Roughly two weeks later, the Delta Tau Delta brothers and friends and family raised roughly $11,000 to benefit a foundation that helps families of pediatric cancer patients.
“It felt like the culmination of everything I had been through,” says Tiller, who was diagnosed with leukemia at age 15. “I can’t remove the bad things that have happened to me from my life, but I can use that to inform other people and get other people behind the cause that means so much to me.”
The B+ Foundation (B+ as in blood type, not academic grade) provides financial assistance to families of children with cancer and supports pediatric cancer research.
Tiller and his family did not use the foundation when he was undergoing treatment.
But Northeastern students Nico Savo and Aidan Demircan introduced Tiller to the organization, knowing of his experience undergoing treatment in high school and his wish to spread awareness of pediatric cancer.
Tiller decided to become involved, specifically raising awareness about the foundation’s main fundraising drive, “Race to Raise.”
This past fall, the race coincided with Tiller’s tenure as philanthropy chair at Delta Tau Delta. His fraternity brothers proved a receptive audience.
“He just went out to the chapter and pretty much poured his heart out for everyone and told everyone his story,” recalls Gabe Psilakis, a second-year student at Northeastern and fellow Delta Tau Delta member.
Two weeks later, the brothers had raised nearly $11,000.
“To see every single person in the fraternity get behind (Tiller) like that was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Psilakis says. “Money was just piling in, and he was so happy, and it made me so happy.”
Tiller says that having someone who could “normalize” his experience going through cancer treatment would have made a big difference in his life. So, he’s glad to help a foundation that can help make the situation a little less mystifying for someone else.
“It would have made me feel a lot better knowing that there was someone not too far away in age from me who has been through the same thing and had ended up just fine and back on track with where they’re supposed to be in life,” Tiller says.
In the future, he says that he hopes to fulfill that role.
“Maybe a kid who’s in my shoes at some point can feel a little better about themselves and feel a little better understood,” Tiller says.
After all, the fundraising success wasn’t the only thing to celebrate this school year.
Just last week, Tiller officially was declared cancer free after five years in remission.
“It’s amazing, really,” Tiller says. “It feels so good.”