First things first - we have a favor to ask of you! Consider sharing your story with us via our Tell Us Your Story contact form that we recently added to the website.

We have a lot of ways that we can keep in touch with our web visitors.

• There is a great network of websites, including our main one, www.LLS.org.
• There is this blog, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society Blog.
• We have regularly scheduled telephone education programs.
• We also provide several e-newsletters that our visitors can subscribe to.

I’ve been spending a little time today reading the Patient Services Discussion Boards, specifically the Newly Diagnosed board. It’s heartbreaking to read some of these posts. A lot of these new cancer patients and their caregivers are scared, feel helpless, and alone. Participating in our online community allows them to find the immediate emotional support they need.

These people are also looking for resources – many of which The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) provides.

In just got the dx dkvpv looks for questions to ask her doctor:

“…my Dr. said we would sit down and talk. I'm very scared and numb. What should I expect, what should I ask?”

The LLS website has a page called, What to Ask After Diagnosis. It has a variety of printable question guides which can be of help during different conversations a cancer patient may have while sitting down with their oncologist.

In NH folicular lymphoma Me2RN looks for peer support:

“At times I feel set apart from others and would like to just talk about it with people who feel like I do or have the same experience. I have a great support group around me but they do not have cancer.”

LLS offers First Connection, which is a peer-to-peer support program. You can sign up to receive a call from a trained volunteer who has been through it, just like you. Both patients and caregivers can utilize this helpful program.

In New dx of CML-scared to death!! LauraB523 wants to know how to cope:

“So, does anyone have any advice or coping skills to pass along? I have some good days but also some bad. Just a lot to deal with right now!!”

Along with many other free materials, LLS offers the Coping support booklet (.pdf) which can either be downloaded or received by mail. It’s geared towards people living with leukemia, lymphoma and myeloma.

There are many other online resources available to people who have been newly diagnosed with one of the blood cancers. It’s not easy to find out that you or a loved one has cancer, but it can be easy to find the help and support you need on our website. Can’t find what you’re looking for? Give us a call or send us an email.

Take a few minutes and go to a website like Technorati. Type in the search bar “leukemia” and see how many blog posts come up. I just did a search and as of right now it says that 677 posts are tagged “leukemia” and there are 152 blogs about leukemia. There are also quite a few videos and photos.

It’s inspiring to read some of these blogs. It’s clear that writing about their experiences with cancer, whether they are a patient, caregiver or family member, is therapeutic and relieving. Not only are they helping themselves, the people who run across their blogs are finding hope and encouragement.

Take a look at How's Dave Doing?, a blog written by Anna about her husband Dave’s battle with leukemia. It’s both touching and informational. Read her recent post reviewing our very own Emerging Therapies for Blood Cancer Patients seminar held in San Francisco.

It was a strange feeling to sit in a huge ballroom, filled with hundreds of people, and think, "Most of these people have Leukemia or Lymphoma." You'd see a couple, and try to guess which one was the patient and which one was the caregiver, and it wasn't possible.

What made me go out for a run this morning at 7:30 when the temperature flirted with thirty? The flip answer is: because I could. The real reason I braved black ice was that today marks the completion of 54 years of living. There were moments over the past 22 months when I didn't think I'd survive to celebrate this day, let alone run two miles. My mother died of cancer when she was 53, and ever since I received my leukemia diagnosis at 52, it's been impossible for me not to dwell on her untimely death. Those were footsteps I did not want to follow.