Five Things You Need To Know About Blood Cancers And One Thing You Can Do

White Plains, NY (August 27, 2014) - Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed.  More than 1.1 million Americans are living with, or in remission from, these diseases. Certain forms of these diseases are the most common types of cancer in children and adolescents younger than 20 years. Almost 150,000 Americans will be diagnosed with these cancers this year.  There are few, if any means of preventing or early screening for these cancers.

You might be surprised to learn that these statistics refer to blood cancers, including leukemia and lymphoma, myeloma and myelodysplastic syndromes.

That's why The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is ramping up efforts to create urgency for our quest to find cures for blood cancers and ensure patients have access to treatments, with a public call to action during September, Blood Cancer Awareness Month, to raise $300,000 in 30 days.  According to Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D., LLS interim president & CEO and chief mission officer, "In our 65 year history, LLS has invested more than $1 billion in research to advance cancer therapies and save lives. Survival rates since the early 1960s have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled, thanks to research and access to better treatments. But there is more work to be done. Despite this progress, more than one third of blood cancer patients still do not survive five years after their diagnosis. To achieve our goal of a world without blood cancers, we must do more to invest in research to find cures. We need your help."
Other LLS blood cancer facts that might surprise you:

• Stem cell transplantation was first used as a treatment for leukemia patients.
• LLS helped advance therapies for myeloma and lymphoma patients, and some of these drugs are also being tested for patients with other cancers.
• Nearly 40 percent of new cancer therapies approved by the FDA between 2000 and 2013 were first approved for blood cancer patients.
• LLS has helped advance laws in more than half of the states to ensure coverage and payment parity for cancer medications, regardless of how or where administered. 

"Since the early 1960s we have achieved tremendous progress in improving survival rates for many blood cancer patients," states DeGennaro.  "In that time, cures for many patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and Hodgkin lymphoma have been achieved and the five-year survival rate for children with ALL jumped from 3 percent in 1964 to approximately 90 percent in 2014."
"Join us in the fight against blood cancers," urges DeGennaro. "Patients desperately need new therapies not someday, but today.  So please don't wait. Raise your hand. Declare your support.  Donate now and help us reach our goal to raise $300,000 in 30 days during Blood Cancer Awareness Month. Help us make someday, today, for patients with blood cancers."
Donate today!
Do more than raise awareness of blood cancer this month; help LLS reach our goal of $300,000 in 30 days. Visit www.lls.org, donate and help save lives. 
About Blood CancersLeukemia, lymphoma, myeloma, myelodysplastic syndromes and myeloproliferative neoplasms are types of cancer that can affect the bone marrow, the blood cells, the lymph nodes and other parts of the lymphatic system. These diseases are related in the sense that they may all result from acquired mutations to the DNA of a single lymph- or blood-forming stem cell. With blood cancers, abnormal cells multiply and survive without the usual controls that are in place for healthy cells. The accumulation of these cells in the marrow, blood or lymphatic tissue interferes with production and functioning of red cells, white cells and platelets. The disease process can lead to severe anemia, bleeding, an impaired ability to fight infection, or death.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Applauds FDA's Approval of Idelalisib To Treat Three Types of Blood Cancers

(White Plains, NY) - July 23, 2014 - Today's U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of idelalisib to treat patients with relapsed chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), follicular lymphoma (FL) and small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) is a significant advance for patients with these blood cancers. 

Idelalisib, which goes by the trade name Zydelig (R), is a first-in-class inhibitor of PI3K delta, a protein that is highly expressed in many B-cell malignancies and plays a critical role in the viability, proliferation and migration of these cancer cells.

Idelalisib is an oral therapy indicated in combination with rituximab, a monoclonal antibody, for patients with relapsed or refractory CLL for whom rituximab alone would be considered appropriate therapy. In October 2013, a Phase 3 study evaluating idelalisib in combination with rituximab in previously-treated CLL patients not fit for standard chemotherapy was stopped early because interim analysis was showing significant improvement in median progression-free survival as well as median overall survival compared to placebo plus rituximab.

Idelalisib was also approved today as a monotherapy for patients with relapsed FL and SLL who have received at least two prior systemic therapies. FDA granted accelerated approval for FL and SLL based on overall response rate. 

"We have been eagerly awaiting the approval of this therapy as these are patients for whom there are few other good treatment options," said Lee Greenberger, Ph.D., LLS's chief scientific officer. "LLS funded research contributed to the understanding of the PI3K pathway in B-cell malignancies beginning in 1999; this allowed the identification and clinical development of inhibitors of this target. LLS exists to find cures and ensure access to treatments for blood cancer patients, and any new advance that brings the potential to help save more lives is good news."

LLS Has Met their September Goal!

 

How awesome!!

 

All my love,

Jessica L. Cassidy

Mrs. Michigan International 2015

SEPTEMBER, BLOOD CANCER AWARENESS MONTH

All my love,

Jessica L. Cassidy
Mrs. Michigan International 2015

How My Determination Began.

Almost 4 years ago I lost my father-in-law to a form of blood cancer, Non Hodgkin's Lymphoma. As a family we cannot believe that he has been gone as long as he has. Even though he is no longer with us a very special gift was given to me by aid of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS).The gift? The gift, selfishly, was being able to spend more time with him but even more important, sharing in the birth of his last grandchild.

During his battle he approached a crossroad where he had to decide whether he was going to continue to fight or not. We spoke with him and plainly said "If you want to fight and continue treatment, then we will make arrangements to fly from California to Michigan to have your last grandchild in the same hospital you are receiving treatment." His eyes lit up and we knew he was going to fight with all of his might.

When the time came we flew from California to Michigan two weeks before my due date. Hogwash you say, well lets just say I was praying the whole flight when I was told that the possibility of having a child on a plane was very probable. I made the appropriate arrangements prior to flying and after flying to make sure the health of our daughter and I were not compromised. Both of my physicians made me well aware of the risks as well as the what ifs. For me, it was a no brainer! I figured that if he could bare the pain and all the side effects of receiving radiation and chemotherapy treatments I could bare having a child in a VERY unconventional way. Thankfully, we all arrived safety and our plan worked.

We welcomed our daughter into the world at Henry Ford Hospital in West Bloomfield where my father-in-law was being treated. When he was safe to see people they rolled him into my room in a wheel chair. The look on his face when he saw Samarra for the first time was indescribable. I will always remember how excited and emotional he was, crying harder than I have ever seen a human being cry. He not only was looking his legacy in the face but realized his own mortality and the wave of emotions that come with it. But in that moment, nothing mattered more than his little granddaughter. Cancer disappeared in pure emotion, the pain didn't matter.

I wholeheartedly believe that other than the will to live the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society gave our family and I a true gift. I will always remember the raw emotion in that room and to this day it seems like yesterday. LLS, their medical research, life saving medication and patient programs are truly what gave our family more time which I personally will forever be indebted.

Brent Cassidy, I truly miss you every day but remember you in many parts of my day. It may be a simple look Kirk gives that I swear is you. It's in the belly laughs of Samarra and Trae. It's in the double rainbows that we are blessed to occasionally see. It's the spaghetti dinners with the family wishing you were there because it was your favorite meal. It's the chocolate all over my children's faces that remind me of you scraping the bottom of the chocolate fondue bowl. Most important, it's in the warm embraces from your son and your grandchildren that let me know you are still here. As long as I live I will never ever forget you or your legacy.

My work began with LLS in 2010 and continues to this day in my father-in-laws honor and legacy. I am determined to raise awareness and funds so that other families are given the gift of time, remission, being cancer free and the hope and possibilities of more life saving treatments to make the world blood cancer free.

All my love,

Jessica L. Cassidy
Mrs. Michigan International 2015
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