The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - Fighting Blood Cancers

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4 Posts tagged with the lymphoma tag
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Tuesday, July 15, President Bush vetoed The Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008 (H.R. 6331). However, Congress acted quickly to override the veto – the House voted 383-41 and the Senate voted 70-26 – that would have, among other things, cut Medicare reimbursement rates to doctors by nearly 11 percent.

The bill was of particular concern to blood cancer patients as the bill included a provision to extend the “freeze” on the Medicare reimbursement formula for radioimmunotherapies (RITs), Bexxar and Zevalin, which are used to treat non-Hodgkin lymphoma, by 18 months. Without such a freeze, RIT reimbursement rates would be drastically reduced and access to this valuable therapy would be threatened for many lymphoma patients.

Advocates from The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and other organizations promptly contacted their elected officials and urged them to override the veto. Thank you to all of the advocates that took a moment to ensure that lymphoma patients have access to these potentially life-saving treatments.

Not sure what "RITs" are? Download our PDF on Radioimmunotherapy as a Treatment for Lymphoma or read about it online.

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We have many resources in English, but in case you didn’t know we have resources that can be of help to people whose native language might not be English.

Free Materials
Available in Spanish (Español) and French (Français)

Free materials are available in Spanish (Español) - you can download a PDF or order a printed copy - and French (Français), but you can download a PDF only. When you are on the www.LLS.org website look in the left-hand column and click on Patient Services, then Free Materials, then you will see Spanish Publications (Publicaciones españolas) and French Publications (Editions françaises).

http://community.lls.org/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/38-1149-1014/freematerials.gif

Financial Assistance
Available in Spanish (Español)

Need financial assistance? Spanish-language speakers (las personas que hablan español) can download our Patient Financial Aid application in Spanish (Solicitud de ayuda económica para pacientes) as a PDF. There is also a handy step-by-step guide in Spanish (Cómo solicitar la inscripción en el programa de ayuda económica para pacientes) to help you fill out the application.

http://community.lls.org/servlet/JiveServlet/downloadImage/1013/patientfinancialaid.gif

Free Newsletters
Available in Spanish (Español)

Visit the following pages in our National Education Programs section for access to our downloadable Spanish newsletters (boletines españoles) available as PDFs.


Can’t find what you need? Let us know here by leaving a comment or by contacting our Information Resource Center by calling (800) 955-4572 or filling out our online form.

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Lymphoma in the Blogosphere*

Posted by millss May 5, 2008

You may remember that a few weeks ago we looked at a couple of personal leukemia blogs. This week I thought I’d take a look at lymphoma in the blogosphere.

I just went to Google Blog Search and typed in “lymphoma” – results are well over one million (1,165,066 at the moment) for all time. I then clicked on “last day” in the left column and 190 results were pulled up. A lot of people are talking about lymphoma – and their experiences are very diverse.

Bill, a.k.a. Billy Bird on his blog, recently started to write Lymph Notes. He was diagnosed with lymphoma on December 24, 2007. Recently someone asked him what having cancer has taught him, and he provided his answer on his blog:

I hope that the biggest lesson I have learned is to continue to think positively. Without doubt, I have created a new future committed to allowing myself to love and to accept love, or at least to work on developing such an outcome. That pledge, combined with an ability to think positively, will be the lesson I hope I never forget.
Another blog, A Pastor's Cancer Diary, is written by Carl. He was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2005. His posts are filled with anecdotes and spiritual advice for every day life. Earlier this month Carl reflected on the challenges of cancer:
I realize that, in the cancer world, there are far more serious pains, far more grueling challenges than those I’ve had to undergo. Each fresh obstacle presents its own level of difficulty. Yet, I’m coming to realize this same principle holds true, at every level. God is right there with us. The sound of sheer silence speaks. Together we travel, one step at a time.
Do you write a blog? If so, we’d love to take a look!

Learn more about the lymphomas:


*From Wikipedia.org: Blogosphere is a collective term encompassing all blogs and their interconnections. It is the perception that blogs exist together as a connected community (or as a collection of connected communities) or as a social network.

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Today we are launching The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s first blog! There are a few things that we hope to accomplish with this new communication tool, but most of all we want to make this an informative and interesting destination for you: patients, caregivers, and anyone else affected by any of the blood cancers.

A few topics we plan to cover are advocacy, teleconferences, news articles, and more…

We’d love to get ideas from you, though. What do YOU want us to write about? (To comment you must first register if you haven’t already – registration is easy and free!)

To make sure you are the first to know when we have posted a new blog entry subscribe to our RSS feed. Or you can bookmark this webpage in your browser and visit us often.

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