Welcome to the New Decade!

I hope you guys enjoyed the holiday season, good times with family and friends.  Ready to get back to work?  I am, if you are willing to stick with me.  It is never a dull day in the CLL arena and I am working on a couple of interesting clinical trial reviews that may be just right for you.

I am willing to bet we will see major improvements in the new decade and many patients will actually get  CURED.  Of course, not all the tentative new approaches will pan out.  It will take smarts and a certain amount of cussedness to survive and thrive when things are changing so fast. I will try my best to keep you smart and focused, provided you stay engaged and optimistic.

We published 61 articles in 2024Updates now has just under 3,000 registered members. The discussions that follow each article have become an important part of this website.  Your first person accounts bring a level of interest and authenticity that my articles alone cannot match.  Together we have built a strong patient community resource that is educational, supportive and last but not least, credible.  Working together we are stronger, our voices are heard more clearly and our agenda is given a chance when decisions are made.  Going forward I hope more of you will join in the discussions, adding your own unique voice to this community effort.

New Face of “Updates”

Well, we survived the first year and it is time to make a few necessary changes.  I think you will like them.

  • We have decided to make our articles accessible to all visitors who wish to browse them.  Registration is no longer necessary to read my articles. In that sense Updates will be like our flagship website CLL Topics, accessible to all comers. You will find it is also a lot easier to print articles, just click on the little printer icon at the top of each article.
  • Only registered members will have access to the thought provoking discussions that follow each article. We want to try and provide your comments some level of protection from random web crawlers and robots looking for any bits and pieces of personal information to exploit. Radha (our webmaster) wants me to tell you not to shy away from joining the discussions because you have lost your password or having trouble logging on. She is more than happy to help you with your logon problems, just let her know OK?
  • Newly diagnosed patients are often bewildered and have a hard time figuring out what to read first.  Radha has designed a whole new page for this special group of CLL patients.
  • You will notice the “Donatebutton is back up on the front page. We took it down July of last year after we met our financial goals for the year. Updates runs on the support of our loyal members and we thank all our wonderful donors who have kept us going in 2024. If you value what we do, I hope you will support us with your generous donations in 2024. If you have questions or run into problems donating please write to Peter Fortman; he is our treasurer (and best son-in-law in the whole wide world). Pete is pretty good at sorting things out; my finances would be a bigger mess without him keeping me straight.

Best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year, from our family to yours.

Chaya, Radha and Peter.