The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society
Charitydine.com, a popular resource for deeply discounted dining certificates has partnered with The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society which was created out of the grief that a family experienced from losing their son. Robert Roesler de Villiers was just 16 years old when he passed away from leukemia. His parents Rudolph and Antoinette de Villiers started the first version of the Leukemia and Lymphoma society out of a frustration of the lack of successful treatments that were available at the time that their son was diagnosed. The first office of the society was a small location on Wall Street. Up to that point, the mean survival time was about three months for most leukemia patients and even when the first chemotherapy drugs were created, leukemia was one of the most resistance forms of cancer.
The survival rate for leukemia has increased since the organization was founded
The de Villiers believed that blood cancers and leukemia were curable and they held onto their belief very strongly, and the foundation began to grow and open new chapters in the NYC area. At the time that the organization was founded (1949), leukemia was considered to be a 100% fatal disease. Largely as a result of the research that the organization helped to fund and its initiatives, the leukemia fatality rate has dropped down to around 43% in the United States, and in children under the age of 15 the fatality rate is even lower at 15 to 40% depending on the type of leukemia.
The organization has supported groundbreaking research
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has supported groundbreaking research that may have otherwise taken a longer period time to uncover. There have been several important leukemia and lymphoma researchers who have been affiliated with the organization including William Dameshek, M.D. who was involved in studies with nitrogen mustard for blood cancer patients, which was considered to be the first anti-cancer chemotherapy drug. George H. Hitchings, Ph.D. developed thioguanine and 6-mercaptopurine, two of the first drugs that were used to treat leukemia. Gertrude B. Elion D.Sc. helped to develop several drugs during the 1950s that were used to save the lives of leukemia patients and advised the Leukemia and Lymphoma society. She won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine along with Dr. Hitchings for her drug developments, and she helped develop some of the most important drugs used in modern medicine including 6-mercaptopurine, acyclovir, azathioprine and many others.
The organization has beat some of the most difficult cancers
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has had success in beating some of the most difficult cancers that were previously thought to be impossible or near impossible to cure. For instance, Dr. Brian Druker made history when he found a therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia 15 years ago and saved the lives of thousands of people. Dr. Druker is now focused on acute myeloid leukemia, a rare and aggressive form of leukemia with just a 25% survival rate past 5 years. The therapies for this form of leukemia have not changed for over 30 years, however Dr. Druker and the Leukemia and Lymphoma society plan on changing this. Your donation to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will support this research and other research to fight leukemia and lymphoma and ensure that the research against these cancers continues.
