My father and his youngest brother, my uncle, have Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). At this point it is believed that the disease results from an acquired (not inherited) injury to the DNA of a single cell in the bone marrow.

Right now my uncle is much sicker than my father. My uncle was diagnosed earlier and shirked chemotherapy and his doctor’s recommendations for other modes of healing. He now regrets it. My father has had only one "round" of chemotherapy although he has been living with the disease for at least four years now. Although traumatic and horrible, the chemotherapy gave him positive results and he is now in a sort of remission period.

This cancer is not fast acting and patients generally live for five to ten years after diagnosis. This type of leukemia generally does not respond to bone marrow transplants, which is something I would do in an instant for my father or uncle. Well, I'm in the national registry so really I'd do it for any match. Anyway, I just wish there was something I could do...the situation makes me feel very helpless.

Thanks for starting this thread shutterbug0303 and thanks to everyone for sharing their stories.