| 13 May 2021 |
16 June 2021 |
Lymphoma Canada webinar on stem-cell transplantation, with an expert: https://www.lymphoma.ca/stem-cell-transplantation-for-lymphoma-patients/ |
| 13 May 2021 |
17 June 2021 |
Caregivers Nova Scotia newsletter The Beacon is now available: https://caregiversns.org/images/uploads/all/Beacon_Newsletter_Spring_2021.pdf |
| 13 May 2021 |
2 July 2021 |
Lymphoma Canada continues to do an amazing job advocating for Canadian lymphoma patients and families. Please take 10 minutes to complete this survey: https://www.lymphoma.ca/covid-19-experience-survey-for-patients-and-caregivers/ |
| 13 May 2021 |
28 May 2021 |
Lymphoma Canada advocates for timely second COVID vaccine dose for blood cancer patients and their families: https://www.lymphoma.ca/news-events/news/covid-19-vaccine-advocacy-efforts/ |
| 28 May 2021 |
8 June 2021 |
From an enthusiastic member: Yesterday Paul Kitchen achieved his goal of walking 300km for WM, for WMFC May Research Month. To date his efforts have brought in more than $22,500 in donations. Bravo, Paul! And thank you! There are four days left in May — I encourage everyone to thank Paul with an e-hug and/or a contribution to the cause. Let’s get him to $25,000! https://www.wmfc.ca/make-a-donation/may-is-research-month/ |
| 16 June 201 |
22 July 2021 |
A very brief presentation of the abstracts related to WM from the latest ASH conference is available here: https://careeducation.ca/dr-christine-chen-waldenstrom-macroglobulinemia-whu-2021/. Designed as continuing education for Canadians already in the medical profession, you may find it a bit terse and technical. |
| 25 June 2021 |
28 July 2021 |
The Lymphoma Support Group of Ottawa had an interesting and useful presentation this spring. The topic was “Navigating Second Opinions: When and How”. The slide deck for the presentation (but not, unfortunately, a recording of the presentation, but still useful by themselves with the detail presented in them) is available here. |
| 26 June 2021 |
28 July 2021 |
Our newest blog has launched!! See WM in Canada for our first post, and send us your suggestions and comments — wm.in.Canada would love to hear from you! |
| 2 July 2021 |
2 Aug 2021 |
The NCCN has updated its guidelines for treatment of WM to include Zanubrutinib (Brukinsa) as a “Preferred Therapy”. See here for a summary of what has changed. And we have information on NCCN, and how to access their guidelines, on our page with information on Booklets, Fact Sheets, and Treatment Guides. |
| 6 July 2021 |
10 Aug 2021 |
Nova Scotia will be the first Atlantic province to provide CAR-T therapy to lymphoma patients. Expect to see it available in about six months. See https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cancer-lymphoma-treatment-1.6090548. |
| 22 July 2021 |
27 Oct 2021 |
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (the US part of the organization) has reported data from more than 1,400 blood cancer patients regarding their ability to produce antibodies against Covid-19. The title says it all — “Get Vaccinated, Act Unvaccinated”! See https://lls.org/who-we-are/covid-19-vaccines-faq-patients-and-caregivers for more information, and in particular, see the last part for excellent FAQs from vaccinated blood cancer patients. |
| 28 July 2021 |
31 Aug 2021 |
WM patients who have had two or more treatments or are refractory to treatments may be interested in a Canadian CAR-T trial. NCT03765177 is accepting patients at both the Vancouver General Hospital and at The Ottawa Hospital. Contact information is available at the ClinicalTrials.gov link (scroll down to the “Contacts and Locations” heading). [Ed. note: It was later determined that this trial is not accepting WM patients. See our post on CAR T, here, for an outlook on this new technology.] |
| 28 July 2021 |
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NCT04624906, the only Canadian trial specifically for WM patients, a.k.a. the BRAWM trial led by Dr. Berinstein, is now accepting patients not just at Toronto’s Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, but also at the Vancouver General Hospital, the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, and The Ottawa Hospital. |
| 10 Aug 2021 |
11 Sept 2021 |
With the support of 22 cancer groups including the WMFC, Lymphoma Canada published a White Paper that calls on the Canadian government and regulatory agency, health and technology assessment agencies, and provincial funding agencies to collaborate and provide solutions to improve access to cancer therapies in Canada. You can read about and download that White Paper here. |
| 12 Aug 2021 |
11 Sept 2021 |
A Canadian-led clinical trial is reporting that an inexpensive anti-depressant curbed the number of COVID-19 patients ending up in hospital by 30 per cent, making it a potential breakthrough treatment. Way to go Canada!! See the article at https://nationalpost.com/health/inexpensive-anti-depressant-could-be-best-covid-treatment-yet-canadian-led-trial-finds (sorry about all the ads in it). |
| 11 Sept 2021 |
8 Oct 2021 |
Both NACI and Santé Québec have published statements approving third doses of Covid vaccines for those who are undergoing “active treatment”. Depending on on how they define “active treatment”, this may or may not include those of us with WM, and those of us with WM but on watch-and-wait. You can see the official NACI summary here, and the Santé Québec statement here. |
| 8 Oct 2021 |
5 Apr 2022 |
See our post (from Lymphoma Canada) providing links to statements from all Canadian provinces and territories on their recommendations for Covid vaccines for Lymphoma patients. Go right to the source for your province / territory! |
| 27 Oct 2021 |
21 Dec 2021 |
Dr. Sophie Lebel, an Ottawa-based clinician and researcher presented an excellent webinar, organized by Lymphoma Canada, entitled Fear of Disease Recurrence and Management Strategies. She reported that 50% of cancer patients and their family caregivers reported fear of recurrence as a significant issue. She and her colleagues have developed a programme called FORT — Fear of Recurrence Therapy — to help people develop coping strategies. Her 45-minute presentation and Q&A can be found here: https://www.lymphoma.ca/fear-of-recurrence-information-for-lymphoma-patients-and-management-techniques/ |
| 4 Nov 2021 |
5 Dec 2021 |
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada (LLSC) has organized a series of presentations from November 22-26. Topics include sleep, the emotional toll of cancer, sexuality, nutrition and well-being. “Unexpectedly pausing some of your life goals as you confront a blood cancer diagnosis may cause you a great deal of worry. When you’re in or out of treatment, or navigating a chronic blood cancer, taking care of your health and well-being are especially important.” Go to https://www.llscanada.org/events/living-well-blood-cancer and click on the individual title to register for a particular talk. |
| 9 Nov 2021 |
11 Feb 2022 |
As we reported in our earlier post here, Canadian efforts in CAR-T therapy are progressing. Although it is not WM directly, here’s a report of one of about 20 Canadians to have undergone the procedure so far: https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/car-t-cell-therapy-canadian-patient-in-landmark-trial-shares-his-story-1.5656172. |
| 21 Dec 2021 |
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Wise advice for many of us in the WM community who are immunocompromised: it’s time to move to a better mask. N95’s may be somewhat uncomfortable, but that snug fit gives some amount of confidence that one is better protected. |
| 11 Feb 2022 |
5 Apr 2022 |
Lymphoma Canada is promoting the every-two-year survey being run by the Lymphoma Coalition. The goal is to understand the patient and caregiver experience as well as uncover trends, themes, and geographic variation; specifically, this year, to explore how patients and caregivers participate in care. For more information, and to take the survey, click here. |
| 23 Feb 2022 |
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An important new trial including relapsed and refractory WM patients is now available in Canada. See our post for more information. |
| 18 May 2022 |
24 July 2022 |
Caregivers Nova Scotia is holding free workshops for caregivers in June, on the topic of Caregiver Stress Management. See their event calendar here for dates and more information. |
