Leukemia and Lymphoma Society moves patient services center to Nyack

WHITE PLAINS — The Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter of The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society will move its Patient Services Center in Suffern to Nyack, effective July 2. The new center will be located at 61 High Ave., serving the communities of Rockland and Orange County. Funded by the Krutz Foundation, the center will continue to provide information, medical support and resources to patients suffering from blood cancers. “We are thrilled to be able to help The Society continue the expansion of its services in this area, particularly with the enormous success of its Team in Training and Light The Night fundraising programs,” remarked Adele Horton, president of the Krutz Foundation and a member of the national board of The Society. “We are also grateful to the Nyack office’s Community Outreach Manager, Nancy Day, who has been invaluable in reinforcing our relationships with local hospitals and extending patient services to reach more people in need of financial aid, education and emotional support.” Founded in 1949, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society is one of the fastest growing non-profit organizations in the country. The mission of the society is to cure leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma, and to improve the quality of life of patients and their families. Although the cure rates for these diseases has increased, leukemia remains the number one killer of children under the age of 15, and during the last quarter century, lymphoma was the fastest growing cancer, with new cases increasing by more than 70%. To date, the Society has awarded over $360 million in research grants. Now at nearly $40 million annually, the society’s grant programs are among the most prestigious in the fields of hematology and oncology. Every year, The Society sponsors several fundraising events in the community, one of which is Light The Night, a two- to three-mile evening walk that takes place throughout the country in September and October. Locally, The Society will host Light The Night walks on Saturday, Sept. 29 at Bear Mountain State Park and on Saturday, Oct. 13 at Nyack Memorial Park. Teams of co-workers, families and friends will walk together in twilight holding illuminated balloons n white for survivors and red for supporters. These evening events will also include food, family activities and entertainment. The Nyack walk will feature a fireworks display, as well. Each Light The Night walk has at least one “Honored Hero,” a local survivor or victim of blood cancer to whom The Society pays tribute. The Honored Hero of this year’s Bear Mountain walk is 21-year-old Caitlyn McDowell, of Middletown, a survivor of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia. The Nyack Honored Hero is five-year-old Trevor Funcheon, of Pomona, a survivor of Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, who is still in chemotherapy treatment. For more information on the new Patient Services Center and/or how to participate in Light The Night, call the society’s Westchester/Hudson Valley Chapter at 914-949-0084 or log on to www.lightthenight.org/wch.