Reasons for Optimism

I think I'm more optimistic now than at any time since I was diagnosed. The new treatments coming along - Bispecifics and CAR-T - promise to be a huge step forward and really are game changers.

For anyone newly diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, there's even greater reason for optimism. When I was first diagnosed, lenalidomide wasn't used to treat follicular lymphoma and there were no Bispecifics or CAR-T. That means there are now at least six major treatments available. Some patients are lucky enough not to need treatment initially, so called 'watch and wait'. Rituximab can sometimes be also used before chemotherapy. So if all goes to plan, that's the first perhaps fifteen twenty years or so sorted out, perhaps longer.

But an equally exciting prospect is just how advanced the new treatments will be in another ten years time. Given the rate progress over the last nine years, I think there's no doubt that pace of development will continue and that follicular lymphoma treatments in even five years time will be significantly more advanced than today.

So for anyone just diagnosed, I think there's huge cause for optimism.