A tribute to Dr Ben Schrader, former Trustee of CLL Advocates NZ

A tribute to Dr Ben Schrader, former Trustee of CLL Advocates NZ

Ben Schrader (19 July 1964 – 19 April 2024), was a brilliant, award-winning New Zealand historian, and a founding trustee of CLL Advocates. Ben was diagnosed with CLL in 2012 and joined Neil Graham, Gillian Corbett and Rebecca Graham in establishing our Trust in March 2019. Despite being in and out of remission over the following years, he continued to give his time to advocating for the needs of New Zealanders with CLL.

Ben was a lovely, generous, gentle man who was happy to serve as a backroom worker, but ended up playing a major role in several key public CLL Advocates initiatives. He led CLLers in a multi-patient group march on Parliament in 2019, presenting our petition on the steps of Parliament, calling for the Government to approve funding of ibrutinib and venetoclax. Ben appeared with Neil Graham and Rob Weinkove before a Health Select Committee hearing on the petition, presenting on our cause.  In 2021 he appeared before the Pharmac Review Panel to make our case for the reform of Pharmac processes and funding.  In 2022 Ben helped bring together our submission on the Pae Ora Bill, and made an oral submission to the Pae Ora Select Committee.

Each of these required a great deal of time, skill and courage, and we are very grateful to Ben for this and for the moral support he gave to our cause.  Ben stepped down from his role as a Trustee recently due to his deteriorating health.

We send our deepest sympathy to Ben’s family.