Some FL-Related Events to Share

I had hoped to be able to share some ASH abstracts with you by now. If you have been following the blog for a while, you know that ash stands for the American Society for Hematology. They hold their annual conference every year in December, and there is often exciting news about Follicular Lymphoma that gets presented there. I like to look at their abstracts -- the summaries of the presentations -- and share the things that I found most exciting. The abstracts been up online allegedly for a few days. But all I can see are titles, not abstracts. I assume they're coming soon. Once I can access them, I will start writing about them.

While we are waiting, I can give you some information about two webinars offered by the Lymphoma Research Foundation that you might be interested in. The first is called “Update on Follicular Lymphoma,” and it will feature two Lymphoma Rock Stars, Dr. John Leonard and Dr. Reid Merryman. This webinar will take place on Monday, November 16^th, from 3:00 to 4:15 PM ET. In some ways, it will be a general overview of FL -- information about diagnosis and staging, first treatment options, relapsed and refractory options, and emerging treatments. At the same time, this general overview will also feature very current information about where we are in our knowledge of our disease. Very up-to-date stuff. You can read more about the webinar and register this link.

The LRF is holding a second webinar next week that's a little more specialized, called “Understanding and Accessing Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T-Cell Therapy.” I know some of you are very interested in CAR-T treatments, and this webinar was designed for you. The speaker will be Dr. Megan Melody, another Lymphoma Rock Star. This webinar will provide an overview of CAR-T therapy, give information on current clinical trials, talk about barriers to access, and give some time for questions and answers. It should be a very informative session. It's happening next Tuesday, November 17th from 3:00 to 4:15 PM ET. You can read more and register at this link.

While I'm giving you information about sources of information, I really need to give a shout out to my good friends at the Follicular Lymphoma Foundation. The FLF is holding a listening session next week on Friday, November 20th at 10:00 AM ET. (The FLF is headquartered in London, so that's 3:00 PM London time.) The Follicular Lymphoma Foundation has been making a great effort to include input from more patients through their “FL Voices” program. The listening session next week is part of that effort. Here is a description of what they are hoping to hear from people next week:

“When we talk about whether a treatment is working, we often hear about test results, response rates, and other medical measures. But we want to hear about something just as important: what does meaningful benefit from a treatment actually look like to you? Perhaps it’s having more energy, being able to get on with everyday life, having fewer symptoms or side effects, feeling less worried about your lymphoma, or simply having more good days. What matters most will be different for everyone.”

Last I heard, there was still some space available for this session. As an added bonus, the FLF we'll pay you £50 as a recognition of your time. You can read more and register at this link.

As many of you know, I've been doing some work for the FLF for the last couple of years, and I really appreciate everything they are doing to include patients, and I appreciate how hard they work for us. So I hope you will consider getting involved with FL Voices. It benefits all of us.

I hope to have some exciting news from ASH soon. I'll keep looking. In the meantime, consider attending one or more of these events.