Latest news ...

The last few months have been exciting ones for the Leukaemia & Blood Foundation, and the patients and families we support.

We have welcomed new staff members and initiatives which we know will be a wonderful boost to our vision to cure, mission to care.

For example, we are thrilled that Debbie Murphy has joined us as the newest member of our Patient Support Services team. Debbie comes from Auckland City Hospital with a wealth of nursing experience. With her arrival, our team expands from three co-ordinators to four, which allows us to increase our availability to patients and look at ways we can continue to improve our current services.

As you will see from our home page, we are also extending a warm welcome to Farmers as a business partner. We are confident this new and important sponsorship will have a significant impact on the work that we do!

In the near future we will be launching several new or revised editions in our information booklet series. These include the update of our chronic myeloid leukaemia booklet and in the pipeline are three new titles, Young adults with a blood cancer, Allogeneic stem cell transplants and Autologous stem cell transplants. We know from the feedback we’ve received that patients and families really appreciate the information these booklets contain.

We have been lucky enough to benefit from the wisdom of Brian Amos during a recent visit. Brian, who is an independent nursing consultant from Queensland, has more than 30 years of experience supporting cancer patients and their families, including time spent as National Support Services Manager of the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia.

During his week-long visit to New Zealand he ran a day workshop with our Support Services team, which has provided inspiration for a range of new initiatives that will roll out over the coming weeks and months. Brian then went on to give seminars to health professionals and patients in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch about the emotional rollercoaster that patients and families face when diagnosed with a blood cancer or condition.

If in future you would like to be made aware of such events, please contact our Support Services Team at lbf@leukaemia.org.nz.