New Web Site Celebrates 60 Years of LLS Innovation

• Gleevec^®, the pioneering treatment for chronic myelogenous leukemia, developed by LLS-funded Brian Druker, M.D., of Oregon Health & Science University
• Therapy Acceleration Program, a novel initiative that is accelerative the development of new therapies
• Co-Pay Assistance Program, an effort to help patients with certain blood cancers cover the costs of insurance premiums and prescription co-pays

"Innovation is what has made LLS the successful organization it is today," according to John Walter, president and CEO. "It is responsible for our tremendous growth and the great strides in patient treatments and support we have provided. And I am unshakeable in my belief that because we are intrinsically innovative, LLS is indeed the organization we need to be to achieve our ultimate goal -- cures for blood cancers."

If you'd like to share your special story, please click here.

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Light The Night Partner Walks for Cures

Burlington Coat Factory is once again Light The Night Walk's
No. 1 national partner.

The perennial Light The Night participant raised more than $1.6 million for the 2008 Walk - double the amount raised in 2007. Most of the funds were raised through Burlington's many Walk teams, local cash sponsorships and sales of Light The Night paper balloons at all 425 Burlington stores nationwide.

"Burlington has been incredibly generous and supportive of our mission and a key element in the program's success over the years," said Jana Boyer, senior national manager, Light The Night Walk. "We're proud to have them in the Light The Night family."

The New Jersey-based company offers discounted high-quality, designer and name-brand merchandise.

For more information about the 2009 Light The Night Walk events, please visit www.lightthenight.org
or call your local chapter.


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Top Regatta Fundraiser Knows Cancer Battle Firsthand

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U pcoming Teleconference

What: Milestones in Myeloma Therapy: An Update from the American Society
of Hematology Annual Meeting
When: Tuesday, Feb. 3, 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. ET
Guest speaker: Robert Orlowski, M.D., Ph.D., director, Myeloma Section; associate professor, Departments of Lymphoma/Myeloma and Experimental Therapeutics, Division of Cancer Medicine, The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center

Register online


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Some Special Kid

Pat Pedraja has appeared everywhere in the past two years. And we mean everywhere - all across the U.S.A. and Australia, Hollywood and now on Doritos^® bags.

And he's only 13!

"It's been a whirlwind, that's for sure," said his mother, Claudine Andrews, of Palm Harbor, FL. "He has enormous energy. He loves inspiring people."

Pat is in remission from acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), a disease he's been fighting since he was 10. As soon as he started feeling better, Pat got involved with LLS's Suncoast Chapter and was Boy of the Year of the local Man Woman of the Year campaign. He's also been an active participant in Light The Night^® Walk.

But what really got Pat going was when he heard about a shortage of bone marrow donors, especially among Latinos and African-Americans. Pat is half Cuban; within days, he decided to help.

Beginning in 2007, he and his family logged more than 100,000 miles in a used RV dubbed the Donormobile, speaking in front of school assemblies and civic groups about the need for marrow volunteers. They've even been to Australia. To date, Pat's speaking engagements and Web site, drivingfordonors.com, have signed up more than 14,000 people to be potential marrow donors.

Amazingly, Pat raised funds for his cause through one of the strangest - and boldest - advertising schemes ever created: he sold the rights to his bald head for local corporate advertising in every city he visited.

"Pat had lost his hair because of the treatments," explained his mother. "So he auctioned space on his forehead on eBay and found a bidder for $5,000."

According to Andrews, all kinds of companies since then have paid for the privilege of their logo temporarily tattooed on Pat's head. In 2007, Pat was honored for his charitable work by winning CNN Heroes'
Viewers Choice Award. He's also appeared on the Today Show and the Michael Moore movie Sicko.

More recently, Pat won the 2008 Do Something Award, from the teen-action group Do Something.org. One of the prizes was his picture on bags of Doritos chips. He's also been involved in the Suncoast Chapter's Pennies
for Patients^® program and enjoys speaking to other young people about the importance of doing good things
for people. Check out Pat's new Web site: www.theplanetus.com.


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Important Clinical Trials

Two important clinical trials sponsored by LLS's Therapy Acceleration Program are recruiting leukemia and lymphoma patients. They are:

1. Phase I-II Multicenter, Open-Label Study of AEG35156 in Patients with Relapsed or Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and Indolent B-Cell Lymphomas
   Aegera's antisense compound AEG35156 has shown early evidence of activity in patients with advanced indolent B-cell lymphomas in Phase I trials and merits further evaluation in this disease. This trial is designed to determine the recommended dose of AEG35156 in patients with relapse d or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and indolent B-cell lymphomas.
   
   The two recruiting centers are in Canada. Please click here for contact information.
   
   
2. Phase Ib Study of ISF35 in Combination with Chemotherapy (FCR) in Subjects with Relapsed, Refractory and/or 17p- Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL)
   This Phase Ib open label, non-randomized, single institution clinical trial at the University of California, San Diego, Moores Cancer Center is designed to evaluate the safety and tolerability of three repeat infusions of Memgen's ISF35 followed by a standard regimen of three cycles of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and rituximab (FCR) in subjects with refractory, resistant, and/or 17p- CLL. ISF35 has already been used in two Phase I clinical trials.
   
   Please click here for contact information.

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Military Personnel Sought to Share Blood Cancer Experience

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs have determined that exposure to chemical and biological agents during World War II, Vietnam and the two Gulf Wars is associated with blood cancers. In response, IOM has identified the need to begin a special research program that addresses the needs of military personal and veterans.

This makes the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) a logical home for a blood cancer research program.  DoD already hosts research programs for breast, ovarian and prostate cancers and, from 2001-2007, hosted a chronic myelogenous leukemia research program funded at $30 million over the six-year period.

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) and other blood cancer-related organizations have been seeking the creation of a dedicated, stand-alone blood cancer research program at DoD, but we need the help of our advocates.

LLS's Office of Public Policy is seeking military veterans who are also blood cancer survivors to share his or her story in an effort to gain more support in Congress for a blood cancer research program to be housed at DoD.  

If you or a loved one is a military veteran, please contact Mark Pascu, national director, LLS Federal Affairs, at (202) 543-7033, ext. 7, or mark.pascu@lls.org. Please be willing to share your address so that we can match you to your correct legislator, as well as where you served in the military, your diagnosis and if you feel that your disease is somehow linked to your military service.

Learn about other ways to take action here.

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