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September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month and The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is reminding
everyone that despite progress, much work still needs to be done to find cures and help patients access lifesaving
treatments. This is more critical than ever as cures and treatments for blood cancers are now helping patients
with other forms of cancer.
These statistics point out the urgent need to get involved in the fight against blood cancer:
Every three minutes, someone in the U.S. is diagnosed with a blood cancer
Right now more than 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with, or in remission from, a blood cancer.
There are no means of preventing or screening for most blood cancers
As the world’s largest non-profit health organization dedicated to finding cures and ensuring access to treatments
for all blood cancer patients, LLS has invested more than $1 billion in research to advance lifesaving treatments
and cures for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients
and their families.
Erin Zammett Ruddy knows first-hand how overwhelming and terrifying a blood cancer diagnosis can be. At 23 she
was told she had chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), a rare blood cancer that, up until that point, had been
ultimately fatal in the majority of cases. But Erin was lucky. She started taking a drug that had just been approved
by the FDA (and funded by LLS), and less than a year after her first dose, she was in complete molecular
remission. No cancer cells could be detected!
Erin is one of the lucky ones. She went on to have three healthy children. As a well-known magazine columnist,
Erin’s story has inspired 1000s of moms like her. While Erin had expected to be on the drug for the rest of her life,
she and her physician decided she should take part in a clinical trial to see if she could stop taking the lifesaving
drug and remain healthy. She has now been off the drug for 8 months her cancer is in remission. The best part: at
38, she feels better than she’s ever felt – healthy, strong, and hopeful about her life after cancer. But she knows that
there are a lot of people who aren’t as lucky—which is why she has devoted her life to LLS to help further its
mission of a world without blood cancer.
To inspire and encourage others, today Erin is joined by LLS president and CEO Louis J. DeGennaro during Blood
Cancer Awareness Month to remind everyone that while breakthrough therapies are saving lives, work still needs to be
done to find cures. To learn more about LLS’s mission and get involved with one of their fundraising campaigns or
donate to LLS directly – visit www.LLS.org to learn more.
INTERVIEW WITH:
Louis J. DeGennaro, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Office of LLS. LLS is the world's largest
voluntary health agency dedicated to blood cancer. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s mission is to cure
leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's disease and myeloma, and improve the quality of life of patients and their
families.
Erin Zammett Ruddy is a blood cancer survivor who has