Re: CLL - Hereditary?

[Guest guest]

My mother was recently diagnosed with CLL and went to MD

for her diagnosis/2nd opinion. Her mother had ALL

and her brother had large B-cell lymphoma. We were told that

these types of leukemia/lymphoma tend to " cluster " in

families and that my siblings and I are four times more

likely than someone without a direct family link to develop

one of these diseases. There is lots of research currently

underway to try and identify in people specific genetic

markers for CLL. I for one am very interested in the subject.

[Guest guest]

Ekata,

If no one else in your family appears to have been affected,

I see no reason to assume that your CLL has an hereditary

basis. Some of us have family with either CLL or other

leukemias/lymphomas, my own included, and I understand your

concern. My mother had CLL, so I do worry for my children

and grandchildren. However, I've always heard that familial

clusters of blood cancers are found in only a small minority

of patients. . .perhaps 5% to 10%. (Those are the numbers

that I seem to recall.) Perhaps our doctors and/or others

with more immediate experience with the statistics will

weigh in on the question, but I would say that in your case

it's not likely and shouldn't affect your decision to have

children.

Best wishes,

Karni

[Guest guest]

My brother and I both got CLL. He died after 17 years with

it at 77. Both my parents died at 72 from heart disease. At

age 82, I've now had CLL for 9 years. I do not know about

whether other relatives had it although I had a cousin who

died of another leukemia, thought at the time to have been

acquired from working on battle ships during WWII.

My father was an architect, and my brother and I used to

visit building sites with him. I have wondered if that made

us both vulnerable to CLL.

Carolyn Swift, dx 2001

[Guest guest]

Unity, I am also fairly new to this group. I am 67 and was

diagnosed June 6 with CLL, unmutated with positive Zap-70

and 11q deletion at stage 2. My mother had CLL for 15 years

at stage 0 and died recently at age 91 from a heart attack.

However her sister had AML and her cousin has too many red

cells. He is in his 50's. I know of no one else in the

family with blood cancers.

Q

[Guest guest]

I was diagnosed 5 years ago at age 46 with CLL/SLL. My

grandmother (dad's mom) had CLL, I have a second cousin that

has CLL, and my mom died of ALL. I have wondered about the

familial connection. I have been blessed thus far to be

able to be in a holding pattern W & W. Not sure if that

contribution is of any help, but I thought I'd share my

history with this disease.

Tammy