Friends,
This week on the CLL Society website (cllsociety.org), we have posted an interesting interview with Dr. Neil Kay where we discuss a couple of clinical trials for untreated CLL patients that include non-chemotherapy arms. You can see that interview here. We've also posted an audio interview with CLL patient Wayne Wells that was recorded at the North American Educational Forum on Lymphoma, a meeting of the Lymphoma Research Foundation that took place in October. Wayne talks about why he feels it's important for patients to attend these educational meetings. You can listen to our interview here.
Three weeks ago, we published our second quarterly newsletter, The CLL Tribune. Although part of the newsletter, they are accessible from the website and always relevant. For those of you who are just starting your CLL journey and are looking for some basic information, there are two great newsletter articles: What is CLL? What is SLL? and What is a Lymph Node? For those of you who are curious about how the various medications work to kill CLL cells, take a look at A Look in the Treatment Toolkit - BCL-2 Antagonists and How Do Anti-CD20 Antibodies Work?
One goal for 2016 to address the unmet needs of those affected by CLL is to set up Patient/Caregiver support groups in areas that don't currently have one available. We are currently identifying those geographic areas, so please consider answering a couple of questions in our Reader Poll to let us know if there is a need in your area.
For those of you in the Charlotte or Atlanta areas, we just became aware of 2 patient meetings coming up in February:
February 4th (Thursday) in Charlotte starting at 5:30 PM at the Hampton Inn & Suites Charlotte (View Charlotte flyer)
February 27th (Saturday) starting at 9:30 AM at the Sheraton Suites Galleria-Atlanta (View Atlanta flyer).
CLL patients will be sharing their personal stories, and local CLL experts will be providing a talk on the basics of CLL. You can call 844-482-6815 to register. Complimentary breakfast and parking are provided and you are welcome to bring a guest.
I will be at both meetings with an exhibit table and will stay afterwards to meet with attendees who may be interested in participating in a support group in those areas. I look forward to meeting you there.
Stay strong.
We are all in this together
Brian Koffman
Volunteer Medical Director of the CLL Society
