Hoping you are enjoying a pleasant holiday season. Sharon and I are home in Sacramento after a trying month spent in Seattle at the Fred Hutch Cancer Center. My anticipated bone marrow transplant was cancelled, and we waited with bated breath for approval of a compassionate use medication, Pirtobrutinib, which gratefully was granted.

I returned to Seattle this past week and received encouraging news. My Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia seems to be in control as measured by my blood counts. My lymphoma also seems to be responding as the bumps in my neck have resolved. What is yet to be known is how the masses in my liver and kidney are faring. I will have a CT scan after Christmas as the first trending indicator of my condition. We were advised that if bone marrow transplant for a cure is possible, the procedure will not be done until I am in total remission and at the earliest this coming Spring or early Summer. On top of that we need to continue living in a socially distanced world, doing our best to avoid Covid.

I have been living with the diagnosis of leukemia now for 13 years, perhaps longer if I carefully go back and review some scans and tests that I had done in 2007. My prognosis and life expectancy when I was diagnosed in January 2010 was 8-years. How then, have I beaten those odds.

Simply stated, my belief is that investment in research for blood cancer treatments by the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society has kept me alive. To date, they have provided research funding of over $1.2 billion.

In my case, every treatment I have received has, in some way, been funded by LLS, including my current medication that is in clinical trials.

Through Dr Larry’s team, we have raised and contributed over $900,000. These funds are instrumental in extending and saving lives of blood cancer patients and others as well. Many treatments first approved for blood cancers have now also been found to be effective in other cancers, arthritis, and MS to name a few.

Since my diagnosis, Sharon and I have been fortunate to have witnessed both our children’s marriages, and the birth of four grandchildren. Who knows what lies ahead. As time goes on, I begin to imagine the witnessing of additional life events.

I don’t know why it is that within many movies, TV shows, or in streaming entertainment, when they need a story arc that includes cancer, it is often leukemia or a blood cancer. I suspect the writer’s perception is that we all recognize this as a tragedy.  

We have truly appreciated your continued support and once again we are asking for your help – yes financially. Please consider a donation to our team, dedicated toward cures for blood cancer by clicking here.

Wishing you all the best,

Larry and Sharon