Friends of CLLANZ

Funding has been received, with thanks, from the BOP Medical Research Trust for a research project to be done as a summer studentship, by fifth year medical student, Andrew Weston, on “second primary malignancies in NZ CLL patients”.

Second primary malignancies are important in CLL, where the impaired immune system is not as able to deal to developing malignancies as people with normal immune systems can. As a consequence, about one third of CLL patients die of a second primary malignancy, such as melanoma, colon cancer, and pancreatic cancer. Some of these cancers have well-recognised screening procedures to detect early stage cancers, which can have a better outcomes to treatment then, compared to when they are picked up when symptoms develop.

Regular skin checks, and colonoscopy are two good examples of this screening approach.

I would be interested to hear from any of the CLLANZ Friends who are in this group i.e. have had a second primary malignancy, as it may help with the study. 

I encourage you to spread the word about the existence of CLLANZ to any New Zealanders you know who are living with CLL, and encourage them to make contact with us.

The other request is to encourage you all to take an active approach to our Facebook group, and to continue to read HealthUnlocked and Patient Power newsletters , which are both easy groups to join, or can be read on our website.

A CLLANZ trustees meeting will be held this month, to review the year gone by, and to plan for the next twelve months. Please contact me at neil@clladvocates.nz to let me know about any topics you would like considered for the agenda.

Best wishes

Neil Graham