The Cause
About The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society is a not-for-profit national voluntary health agency dedicated to curing leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin's Disease, and myeloma, and improving the quality of life for patients and their families. The Society supports five major programs: research, patient aid, public and professional education, community service and advocacy.
Informative educational materials are provided to individuals and health care professionals at hospitals, agencies and libraries. We provide direct financial aid for outpatient expenses to patients with blood cancers. We offer patient and family support groups led by experienced oncology health care professionals, one-on-one peer counseling for newly diagnosed patients, and a variety of educational programs. All services are provided free of charge.
Last year, blood-related cancer struck more than 100,000 Americans and more than 57,000 fell victim to their disease. Forty years ago, there was no effective treatment for leukemia. However, thanks in large part to research funded by The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the survival rate for the most common form of childhood leukemia has improved from 4% in 1960, to 80% today. Bone marrow transplants and chemotherapy, the most common treatments for all cancers, have stemmed from leukemia research. Your help is needed to ensure that this progress continues.
About Blood Cancers
Leukemia, Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin Lymphoma and myeloma are cancers that originate in the bone marrow and lymphatic tissues. All blood cancers have two things in common: cells become abnormal because of altered DNA and then they accumulate in excessive amounts. Some of the facts are startling. Leukemia is the largest disease killer of children between the ages of 1 and 15, however, leukemia strikes even more adults than children---most often people over 60, and men more than women. Lymphoma strikes more children between the ages of 15 and 19 than any other cancer, but it also affects more adults than children. From the early 1970's through the 1990's, incidence rates for lymphoma in the U.S. nearly doubled. The cause of blood-related cancers remains largely unknown, however, recent research has dramatically improved our understanding of these cancers and is bringing us closer to a cure.
