Upcoming Events

There are a few events coming up that I thought many of you might like to know about.

The first is from the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation. It's a webinar called "Relapsed Follicular Lymphoma: Essential Insights." It's happening on Thursday, September 26, at 1:30pm Eastern Time (US and Canada). As the name suggests, the webinar will focus on relapsed FL -- the latest treatment, how to identify possible signs of relapse. And there will be a question-and-answer period, too. The speakers look fantastic -- Dr. Mitchell Smith, the Chief Medical Officer of the Foundation; Dr. Philippe Armand, head of the Lymphoma program at Dana-Farber in Boston; and Andrew MacAslan, an FL patient and advocate, who was diagnosed with FL at 25 years old. You can read more about the speakers here, and register for the webinar, too. 

As I've said before, given the nature of the disease, most of us should be aware of what happens if we relapse after treatment. We won't all need a second treatment any time soon. I'm still feeling lucky that I've gotten almost 15 years out of my first treatment. But I regularly talk to my oncologist about what happens next, if I do need treatment -- what we might try, what my goals might be, what clinical trials are available at my cancer center. So I think a webinar like this is good for everyone, and the FLF does a nice job with their webinars.

And so does the Lymphoma Research Foundation. Their next webinar that might be of interest to FL patients is called "Update on Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-cell Therapy." You have a while for this one -- it's happening October 23 at 3:00pm Eastern Time (US and Canada). The speaker for this webinar is Dr. Jerry Abramson, who is the head of the Lymphoma program at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. (As someone who was born in Boston, I have to say I am really pleased to see my beloved city represented by both organizations. Go Red Sox!)

This should also be a very interesting webinar. It will cover some basics about CAR-T, when to consider taking it (and the importance of talking about it as early as possible), side effects, and follow-up care. Dr. Abramson is an expert on CAR-T. If you want to hear a little bit about what he thinks about the treatment, you can watch a short (2 minute) video here. He's excited about the possibilities.

The LRF also did a webinar last week on "Understanding Diagnostic and Biomarker Testing." I wasn't able to attend, but they should have a recording of it up soon. Check back at this link.

The LRF also has their annual in-person Educational Forum happening in New York, October 26-27. It's a major event, with lots happening. When they post the final schedule for it, I'll be sure to put up a link.

But for now, mark your calendars for the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation event. I'll definitely be tuning in for that one.