LRFA is the foremost national nonprofit organization dedicated to funding lymphoma research and providing information, education and support to lymphoma patients and their loved ones. The organization was founded in 1991 by Ellen Glesby Cohen, whose own experience battling non-Hodgkin's lymphoma led her to fully appreciate the pressing need for better, safer cancer treatments. Tragically, Ms. Cohen's battle with lymphoma ended in August of last year. Lymphoma is a cancer that originates in and affects the body's immune system. Lymphoma occurs when cells that normally fight infection abnormally multiply and form tumors.
Lymphoma strikes men, women and children of all ages, races and socio-economic backgrounds.
Three years ago, after a routine physical, my doctor told me that he was concerned about my white blood cell count. He calmed me by saying that people sometimes lived up to ten years with CLL without treatment, and referred me to an oncologist at Mayo Clinic for further evaluation. I remember vividly that he could not look me in the eye when he told me there were no known effective treatments for it. I asked him how long I had to live. He said that I was in the last stage of the disease, that lymphoma was in every organ of my body, and I could have as little as six to 18 months to live.