July 25, 2016

Friends,

Good News! Brian arrived safely in Kenya on Thursday. I’ve received the following message from him:

Great first day on safari under the snows of 19,000 foot high Mount Kilimanjaro. We saw lions, jackals, giraffes, zebras, wildebeests, gazelles, hippos, elephants, ostriches, baboons, flamingos, impalas, buffalo, a ton of different birds and much more on our first day. It’s beyond amazing to see the animals in the wild!

According to his itinerary, they will be visiting the Mt. Kenya Animal Orphanage this morning and then head to the Samburu Game reserve where they will stay until Friday when they head for Lake Elementaita. Sounds so exciting!

Building on last week’s post on MRD negativity with Rick Furman, we’ve created a post directing you to a Point-Counterpoint Debate article on MRD negativity between Drs. Rick Furman and Matthew Davids. A summary and link to the article is posted in Beyond the Basics. You can see it here.

We are so pleased with the response to our Reader Poll this quarter. Thanks so much to the 209 folks who have already responded. It really helps us to identify the unmet needs for CLL patients. We’re interested in what is important to our readers when it comes to selecting their CLL physician. If you have 3 minutes to spare, we’d love to hear from you. You can access it here. We will share the results in the next issue of the newsletter.

From time to time, we will make you aware of in-person meetings coming up for those of us affected by CLL, specifically:

• September 21st at 6 PM at the New York Marriott East Side in New York City: The Lymphoma Research Foundation will be hosting Updates on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia / Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma as part of their Ask the Doctor series. Rick Furman from New York Presbyterian – Weill Cornell Medical (also part of the CLL Society Medical Advisory Board) is the featured speaker. You can find out more information and register here. Dinner will be served and there is no charge to attend.

In the meantime….

Stay strong.

We are all in this together.

Betsy Dennison, RN on behalf of Brian Koffman, MD on African Safari 7/19 – 8/8/16