Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
‘Blood Cancer Awareness Month’ Recognized
01 year ago
Exciting news from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and blood cancer awareness!
Not only is September ‘Childhood Cancer Awareness’ month, it is now recognized as ‘Blood Cancer Awareness Month’. Read on…
Washington, DC (September 23, 2010) – The U.S. House of Representatives today passed House Resolution 1433, declaring September 2010 as ‘Blood Cancer Awareness Month.’ The resolution helps raise awareness and support for issues affecting blood cancer patients within the halls of the Capitol.
“Awareness Month is an opportunity to increase the public’s understanding of blood cancers and encourage people to support the funding of research to find cures and education programs to help patients have the best possible outcomes throughout their cancer experience,” explained John Walter, president and CEO of The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. “The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society would like to thank Representatives Walter Jones and Betsey Markey for introducing and supporting this resolution, and all of our volunteers who called and emailed their representatives to urge their support.”
Remarkable progress has been made in treating patients with blood cancers. Sixty years ago there were few effective treatments for children or adults with blood cancer and the rate of survival was very low. Today, about 75 percent of children with acute leukemia and nearly 80 percent of children and adults with Hodgkin lymphoma are cured. Advances in the treatment of blood cancers have also led to new treatments for other cancers. In fact, in the last decade, 47 percent of new cancer therapies approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were first developed and approved to treat a blood cancer.
Despite these advances, more than 900,000 people in the United States currently have some form of blood cancer and fewer than 50 percent of newly diagnosed patients will survive five years past that diagnosis. Every ten minutes someone dies from a blood cancer and more than 53,000 will die from one this year.
“Congress has been supportive of issues affecting blood cancers in the past,” said Walter, “and we thank them for that support. But more needs to be done to fight these deadly diseases – increased research funding, access to affordable treatments, and improved care planning for survivors, just to name a few issues that need to be addressed.”
About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ® (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The LLS mission: Cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their families. LLS funds lifesaving blood cancer research around the world and provides free information and support services.Founded in 1949 and headquartered in White Plains, NY, LLS has chapters throughout the United States and Canada. To learn more, visit www.LLS.org or contact the Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET.
From: www.lls.org
Make a Difference this September
02 years ago
September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma Awareness Month. Both awareness initiatives are near and dear to the heart of Friends of Heroes.
An estimated 10,730 children under the age of 15 were diagnosed with cancer in the United States in 2008, with leukemia being the most commonly diagnosed childhood cancer at 32.6 percent of all cases. Lymphoma ranked as the third most diagnosed pediatric cancer in 2008.
Our group began with a passion to put an end to childhood cancer and we annually participate in the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Light The Night Walk to raise money and awareness for a cure. There are simple ways we can each make a difference by supporting research, raising awareness and contacting legislators.
Did you know:
- Every five minutes, someone in this country is diagnosed with blood cancer?
- Every nine minutes, someone loses the fight?
- Leukemia is the leading cause of disease-related death among children under age 15?
- Approximately 3,000 children die from a blood cancer every year?
Help us make a difference for these families!!!
Donate by visiting one of our team member pages at:
http://pages.lightthenight.org/2009/friendsofheroes
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) funds lifesaving research that has contributed to major advances in the treatment of blood cancers and treatments for other types of cancer, such as chemotherapy and stem cell transplants. These treatments have helped patients live better, longer lives. New targeted therapies that kill cancer cells without harming normal tissue are providing drugs and procedures that are improving quality of life.
- A donation of $25 provides patients and their loved ones with FREE booklets that contain up-to-date information on their disease and help them make informed decisions about their treatment options.
- A donation of $50 makes possible a Family Support group with a trained facilitator where comfort can be found and experiences can be shared among patients and family members.
- A donation of $100 helps supply laboratory researchers with supplies and materials critical to carrying out their search for cures.
- A donation of $1,000 makes possible one- on-one conversations with health care specialists who provide patients with information about their disease, treatment options, and helps prepare them with questions for their health care team.
Make a difference that will make a big impact!
Participate in a Light The Night Walk near you:
http://pages.lightthenight.org/2009/friendsofheroes
Join our Light The Night Team – Friends of Heroes and raise awareness among your family, friends and co-workers. Light The Night Walk is the nation’s night to pay tribute and bring hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and to commemorate loved ones lost.
Funds raised by walkers provide:
- Lifesaving blood cancer research
- Financial assistance to cover patient expenses for transportation, medication and testing
- Free educational materials and events for patients and their families
- Local programs such as Family Support Groups and First Connection, a peer-to-peer counseling program
- Comprehensive, personalized assistance through our Information Resource Center
Light The Night Walk events are evenings filled with inspiration. Carrying illuminated balloons – white for survivors, red for supporters and gold in memory of loved ones lost to cancer – thousands of walkers – men, women and children – form a community of caring, bringing light to the dark world of cancer.
If you already have a Light The Night Team, join us as an affiliate team. Contact Carole at affiliates@friendsofheroes.org for more information.
Make a difference on Capital Hill
Urge Your Representative to Co-Sponsor Pediatric Cancer Survivorship Legislation
Improvements in long-term survival rates for pediatric cancer patients present some new challenges for patients, family members, providers and policy makers. Patients may face greater risk of secondary cancers; they may have limited access to follow-up care; the follow-up care they do receive may be inadequate; and some may face cognitive or psychosocial problems. Expensive long-term treatments, hurdles to purchasing health, life, or disability insurance, and employment barriers also pose difficulties for cancer survivors.
Reps. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Mary Bono Mack (R-CA) recently introduced the Pediatric, Adolescent, and Young Adult Cancer Survivorship Research and Quality of Life Act (H.R. 2109). This legislation would provide much needed resources to fund research and survivorship programs that would dramatically improve the quality of life for all cancer survivors.
Please take a moment to send a letter to your representative urging them to co-sponsor this important legislation. Please make sure that pediatric cancer survivors receive the care they need as they move on with their lives.
Source: LLS.org
Gap’s Give & Get Campaign supports cancer research
02 years ago
Download a Coupon for 30% Off with 5% going to LLS
Leukemia survivor, Lance Bigelow, is someone who knows first-hand the importance of Gap’s Give & Get program benefiting The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS). He participated in the spring campaign. Lance and his family knew that taking advantage of the Give & Get program’s 30% discount, they would also be contributing to LLS’ blood cancer research efforts, research that helps kids like Lance — research that fights the number one cancer among children.
Thanks to the efforts of families like the Bigelows, the spring campaign raised $600,000 for research to find a cure.
By participating in our summer campaign you can help blood cancer patients live longer, better lives — and look good doing it!
Then visit any Gap, Inc. store from July 30th to August 2nd to take advantage of the 30% discount offer. Please note that this offer is good from July 30th through August 2nd only! The Gap Give & Get coupon is good for purchases at any Gap, Inc. store, including Gap, Gap Outlet, Banana Republic, Banana Republic Factory Stores and Old Navy. The coupon is for in-store purchases only and is good in both the United States and Canada.
Remember, when you download a coupon for discounted clothes from this site you’re helping The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society fight the number one cancer among children. Send this page to your friends and family and help our cause even more!
more info: http://www.leukemia-lymphoma.org//all_page.adp?item_id=552506
Lance’s Story: http://community.lls.org/blogs/atlls/2009/07/27/licking-leukemia-with-lls-and-gap
Coupon (English): http://www.gapinc.com/giveandget/lls/
Coupon (French): http://www.gapinc.com/giveandget/fr/lls/
Source: LLS.org
Coping With Childhood Leukemia and Lymphoma
02 years ago
If you or someone you love has been diagnosed with a blood cancer like leukemia, lymphoma or myloma, there is help for you.
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, headquartered in White Plains, New York, provides a library of resources through their website and their Information Resource Center. You may feel helpless or overwhelmed with decisions. These free resources and support services are funded by generous donors to The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
If you need assistance ordering free materials please call the LLS Information Resource Center at (800) 955-4572 Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST or contact your local chapter.
For more information specifically related to childhood blood cancers, visit their Childhood Blood Cancers resource page.
The following excerpts are sample materials from their library:
Coping With Childhood Leukemia and Lymphoma
Introduction
Families face uncertainty when they are told that their child has leukemia or lymphoma. It is a time filled with new people and situations, worries and change. It may help to learn that cancer survival rates for children have improved significantly during the last several decades due to new and better treatments. Doctors, nurses and scientists are working together around the world to continue to improve outcomes for children diagnosed with leukemia or lymphoma – researchers continue to search for the causes, develop better treatments and tailor therapies to decrease long-term effects. Social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists and other health professionals are also working to understand how to help children and families manage cancer and its treatment and maintain a good quality of life.
Continue reading by downloading the .pdf or order a free printed copy via the LLS online order form.
Learning & Living With Cancer
Introduction
For children with cancer and their parents, returning to school builds hope for the future. Attending school is a big part of feeling normal and productive. Yet, going back to school also brings new challenges to families whose main focus has been getting through treatment.
You may wonder:
- What challenges will my child face?
- What help is needed for my child to be successful?
- What laws protect my child?
- Where do I turn for help?
Continue reading by downloading the .pdf or order a free printed copy via the online order form.
Source: lls.org
Researchers are vital for a CURE
02 years ago
by Jenn
in Cancer Research Notes
Sagar Lonial, M.D. is associate professor, hematology/medical oncology at Emory University in Atlanta. Dr. Lonial, a recipient of a Translational Research Program grant from LLS, is studying a combination therapy for patients with myeloma and other blood cancers.
What is the biomedical problem/issue that you are trying to resolve?
The proteasome is a piece of cellular machinery that removes unnecessary proteins from cells. But in some blood cancers, such as myeloma, the proteasome may function abnormally. The targeted drug Velcade (bortezomib) works for many myeloma patients by inhibiting the proteasome. But myeloma and other cancer cells can resist being killed by Velcade. Our group is trying to better understand how cancer cells become resistant and if we can overcome that resistance, especially by making Velcade more effective in combination with other drugs.
What’s novel or innovative about your approach?
Our approach is novel because we are trying to choose drug combinations based upon preclinical evidence gathered in our laboratory studies, rather than just randomly combining available drugs. Our preliminary findings suggest that we can really improve the efficacy of Velcade for patients with myeloma by combining it with Zarnestra (tipifarnib), an experimental drug that has been shown to inhibit an enzyme that can cause excessive growth of cancer cells. Zarnestra really does not kill many myeloma cells when used alone, but the anti-myeloma effect of the combination is quite striking in laboratory tests.
How will your work one day help patients?
We are currently enrolling patients in an early phase clinical trial based upon our laboratory data, and have seen responses among patients with myeloma who were resistant to Velcade as a single agent. We are now testing higher dose levels and hope to show that the combination is measurably more effective in patients than Velcade alone, as is true in laboratory tests.
Are you close to clinical trials?
The trial is open; 23 patients have been enrolled so far.
I think the excitement is around the addition of these new agents in treatments for patients with newly diagnosed disease where combinations might be able to result in complete remissions, and possibly even durable complete remissions. In the setting of relapsed disease, new combinations may allow us to treat patients with lower doses of each respective agent to reduce side effects, or use standard dosing but with improved outcomes as measured by number and duration of responses.
What are some of your hobbies and non-research interests?
My hobbies are golf and wine tasting, only one of which I enjoy doing with my kids. I also enjoy traveling, which I am able to do a bit through the myeloma community.
Source: lls.org (eNewsLine)
Tina Fey Announced as 2009 Light The Night Walk National Spokesperson
12 years ago
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is excited to announce that actress Tina Fey is lending her face and fame to help in the fight against blood cancers as the 2009 National Spokesperson for the LLS Light The Night Walk.
Tina Fey is an American writer, comedian, actress, and producer. She has won five Emmys, three Golden Globes, and three SAG Awards. Fey is best known for her work on Mean Girls, Saturday Night Live, her impersonation of Alaskan Governor and 2008 Republican vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and her work on 30 Rock, a situation comedy loosely based on her experiences at Saturday Night Live. Fey was also selected by Barbara Walters as one of America’s “10 most fascinating people of 2008.”
As National Spokesperson for the 2009 Light The Night Walk, Fey urges communities to “Walk the Talk” and join the fight against blood cancer through Light The Night Walks happening this fall across the country. “When you or someone you love has cancer, it can turn your world upside down and leave you in a dark and lonely place,” says Fey. “But there’s something you can do to bring light and hope to thousands of people battling blood cancers and their families. You can participate in Light The Night Walk and raise funds for lifesaving cancer research.”
Walks take place in communities across the U.S. and Canada, as walkers and teams of families, friends and co-workers come together for an evening overflowing with emotion and caring. The Light The Night Walk is open to the public. Teams and individuals are encouraged to pre-register and raise funds for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society throughout the summer months preceding the Walk. The funds will support vital life-saving research and patient services to support the nearly 900,000 Americans living with blood cancers.
More than a Walk, Light The Night includes music, entertainment, food and children’s activities for everyone to enjoy. Walkers carry illuminated balloons to spread awareness about the need to fund research to find a cure for blood cancer. Supporters carry red balloons, survivors carry white, and those who have lost a loved one to cancer carry a gold balloon in their memory. The event is supported by many local businesses who form Walk teams or offer corporate sponsorship. Corporate sponsorship and in-kind food donation packages that include a variety of marketing benefits are available. You can join Friends of Heroes and start making a difference today! For more information about the Light The Night Walk and how to participate, visit www.LightTheNight.org.
About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Eastern N.C. Chapter serves patients battling leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma. The organization raises money to fund research leading to a cure for blood cancers and to enhance the quality of life for local patients through services such as family support groups, educational programs and financial assistance. Since its founding in 1949, LLS has invested more than $600 million in research specifically targeting leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma. For more information about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, visit www.lls.org.
