Hi everyone, just a bit of feedback from a leukaemia conference i attended yesterday in the North East of England.
The conference covered many leukaemia's including cll. It was very well attended and informative.
A historical overview of the development of treatments over the years in particular the progress since 2010 was given by Dr Phil Mounter. I was made aware of the recent upsurge in research and treatments in 2011 when I was diagnosed and assumed this had been over a significant number of years so was surprised to hear it was only 7 years - amazing progress in such a short time undoubtedly. Provided a lot of hope for us all.
Each leukaemia was discussed separately in separate rooms before we all gathered together again for a motivational speaker, raffle and choir which was a nice and uplifting after discussion groups.
The CLL discussions went well with nurse specialist inputs on how to take care of yourself with CLL and patient discussion time covering individual experiences and questions and answers. Unfortunately our main clinical speaker did not arrive as he was stuck in a major hold up on the A1 due to a traffic incident. Amazingly he completed his session using Skype from his car with the help of the CLL nurse specialists who provided the visual aids. A round of applause to them all for saving the day, what commitment!!
For me the event reinforced my own understanding of CLL and the value of the CLL/SA and this site where the majority of learning on the subject of CLL has taken place for me, while raising a few questions about treatment decisions I am in the process of making which I will take up with the appropriate people.
A good day seemed to be had by all. It was lovely to meet fellow cll'rs in person. In particular it was Nice to meet Bethan49 who is a valuable member and regular contributor to this website.
Bethan's husband took a photo of us together on the day which she said she would put on this site when she posts as I am not sure how to do this, still a novice at blogging.
We discussed how nice it would be to have a North East self help group and wondered if anyone out there in the North East would be interested? If you are let either of us know.
Thanks to all involved in the preparation and presentation of this event.
Much appreciated
Ann
Introducing Chris Dwyer (Patient Power Video)
London Conference 
