August 8, 2016

Friends,

Brian is currently traveling back to California from Kenya and will arrive home this evening, but here is what he reported seeing during his last week in Kenya::

Most of this week we have been at the Mara Bush Camp doing game drives. Seen lions, leopards, cheetahs, rhinos, elephants, and so much more.

I will post soon on my advice about this kind of trip for fellow CLLers, but I have had no health or security concerns during my travel. Kenya is a friendly and safe place to visit from my perspective.

Today is a TBM…..Throw-back Monday. While we have been adding and adding to the content on the CLL Society website since we launched in March 2015, we realize that many of our readers have only just been diagnosed, or perhaps are just facing treatment right now OR only discovered the CLL Society (Welcome!). With that in mind, I’d like to call your attention to The Basics section of the website. In this section, you will find patient-friendly explanations focused on:

• Basic Terms and Hematology which provides the nuts and bolts of CLL/SLL
• Getting Started which addresses diagnosis, Watch and Wait, Symptoms, Top 10 List from Dr. John Leonard and more
• Prognostics and Early Care
• Treatment
• Cake of Cure in CLL – Dr. John Byrd’s discussion on the treatment landscape for CLL

TRANSLATION AVAILABLE: Just an FYI, in the upper left hand corner of the CLL Society website is a “Translate” button. You can now select your preferred language to learn about CLL.

Thank you again to the 261 people who participated in the Reader Poll from the Q2 2016 issue of The CLL Tribune. We really appreciate your candid responses. Thank you!

From a first look at the data, the 3 most important things participants reported when selecting their CLL physician included: Their physician makes them feel comfortable discussing their CLL (95%), treats many CLL patients (93%) and encourages them to participate in the medical decision making for their CLL (90%). We will share more 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 who is in-flight on his way home from an African Safari 7/19 – 8/8/16