Chaya Venkat says goodbye after a decade of exemplary service to the CLL community

[AussieNeil]

After many years of tireless and selfless work supporting the CLL community through patient advocacy, providing educational information, running workshops, reinterpreting research papers into layman's language and providing editorial comment, supporting CLL research and personally assisting many of us with information to help us make the best choice on how to manage CLL related challenges, Chaya Venkat has finally said goodbye:

updates.clltopics.net/4874-...

The incredible legacy to her husband, PC, who was diagnosed with CLL in 2001 and lost his battle with CLL 5 years ago on June 23, 2008, will however remain as long as the content will remain relevant, which I suspect will be at least until there is a cure for CLL. As Chaya says in her farewell message:

"All three of our website (our flagship website CLL Topics, more recent Updates site and Harvey’s Journal) will be hosted and maintained, open to all comers, for as long as the content remains relevant. There is a ton of information on these sites. I hope you will continue to visit, learn to search for the articles that are useful to you."

clltopics.net/index.php

updates.clltopics.net

journal.clltopics.net

If you haven't already registered, DO SO. (You can register at the Updates for both the Topics and Updates sites, the journal doesn't require registration.) The contents could very well save your life. You can also leave a personal thank you to Chaya at the Updates site - if the server hasn't crashed!!

Chaya will be greatly missed but never forgotten,

Neil

[PaulaS Volunteer]

I've just read Chaya's "goodbye". It almost brought me to tears - made me want to reach out and give her a hug.. Such loving, wise words, in spite of such deep underlying sadness.

Paula

[AussieNeil Administrator in reply to PaulaS]

Well it brought tears to my eyes while writing this blog and that doesn't happen very often.

[PaulaS Volunteer]

I've just gone back and read Chaya's "goodbye" again. It was worth reading twice - specially the last 2 paragraphs. I hope she has many years of happy dog-walking and bridge playing ahead...

[splashsplash]

Chaya and her family made such a difference to the CLL family. She should feel very proud of what flowered out of her sadness, an amazingly generous person.

[irish828]

Thank you Chaya for your faithfulness and generosity.

[Newdawn Administrator]

Such a pioneer and ambassador but I had no idea that her personal loss had driven her passion for the cause. I too read her farewell with overwhelming admiration and quite a few tears. A farewell from the heart that pulled at mine. Thank you Chaya and family and I'm so sorry your loss was the reason for our gain.

Newdawn

[AussieNeil Administrator]

Updated with new CLL Topics/Updates website addresses. Even today, many of Chaya's articles are still relevant, particularly those related to diagnosis and prognostic testing.

Neil