PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Welcome to our web site! We hope that you will find it user friendly and that you will visit regularly.

I am proud to be one of fourteen dedicated trustees, all of whom work hard to achieve two major objectives.

Our first objective is support and education for patients, caregivers and their families. We remember quite clearly what it feels like to be given the news that we have an incurable cancer with an almost unpronounceable name. We remember the helpless, hopeless feeling all too well. We also remember the relief in finding an organization with over 3,800 patient and caregiver members who have joined together to provide mutual support and caring and support the search for a cure. It’s encouraging to see many of those living rich, fulfilling lives and know that they are happy to share their experiences with those newly diagnosed and their loved ones.

This web site is but one way of offering support. Other ways include our newsletter, the IWMF Torch, the e-mail Talk-list, with over 700 members, our support groups scattered throughout the United States, with chapters in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Norway and The Netherlands. Our annual Educational Forum brings patients and caregivers together with some of the world's finest physicians, researchers and other experts for a three-day weekend of presentations, along with sharing in breakout groups, and social activities.

Our second major objective is promoting and funding research that will lead to improved treatment to make it possible for us to live fully with this disease while at the same time waiting for the cure, which, although still a dream, is inevitable. We are now well on our way, having raised over $2,000,000 in research funds which has supported numerous research projects at prestigious cancer clinics and institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia is considered an "orphan disease," so-called because it is extremely rare and therefore receives little attention from pharmaceutical companies, researchers, and the federal government, whose focus is more often on the more common cancers. It is up to us to maintain organized efforts to keep this disease in the minds of those who fund and direct blood cancer research. Together we can make the wheel squeak, and we can assure that it gets the grease.

Thank you for visiting. We hope that you will click on "How to Join" and contribute your energy and resources to our efforts. Together, with the power of many, we can make a difference, we can help each other, and we can find a cure.

Judith May

President,

IWMF