CLL Live 2025: All things chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Isabella Garofalo, one of LLSC's community service leads in Ontario, and LLSC’s Colleen McMillan, advocacy lead, participated in CLL Live 2025 conference April 24-26 in Niagara Falls.

The free event, described by its organizer CLL Canada as “for patients organized by patients" living with CLL, is a deep dive into all things chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) - from cutting-edge research and treatment advancements, to insights from leading experts and clinicians, and separate breakout sessions for patients (treated and untreated) and caregivers.

One highlight was spending time in person with CLL Canada’s board chair, Raymond Vles, who is a LLSC Blood Cancer Ambassador and one of our First Connection peer match volunteers. (Raymond is shown with Colleen in photo at top of this page.) They also had the pleasure of meeting two other inspiring First Connection volunteers, Andy Friedman and Eric Pitters. Eric is a member of the CLL Canada board.

It was great to hear from LLSC healthcare partners Dr. Versha Banerji, clinician scientist at CancerCare Manitoba, and Dr. Spencer Gibson, head of cell biology at the Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology at CancerCare Manitoba. They both presented at CLL Live 2025.

LLSC had a booth at CLL Live; Isabella is shown here at the LLSC booth at CLL Live, which included a wide array of information resources on CLL. It was a great opportunity to engage with attendees and to reconnect with both industry partners and fellow partner organizations in the blood cancer community.

Community service leads like Isabella are available in your region for one-on-one personalized support. We are here to help.