Plymouth and District Leukaemia Fund

We help patients, who develop leukaemia & similar disorders, and who are treated in Plymouth, by providing equipment and facilities to enable them to have the best possible care and support.

Registered Charity 290480

News

20th October 2021 Important news re Donations and Fundraising

Virgin Money Giving has announced that its platform is closing on 30th November this year.

PDLF has set up a new account with Just Giving. This can be reached on this link.

28th July 2021

The Trustees met by Zoom on the 20th July. The official address for correspondence with PDLF is now 14 Morley Drive, Crapstone, Yelverton, Devon, PL20 7UY. The Fund is in the process of changing the address with the Charity Commission, banks and social media. We have written to University Hospital Plymouth NHS Trust regarding funding for a part time Clinical Psychologist for Teenagers and Young Adults with Cancer. The Haematology Department is currently building the business case for this appointment to start. The Trustees reviewed our internal policies: Financial, Risk assessment and Privacy. There is a fall income due to less fundraising as a consequence of the Covid-1 pandemic. We are reviewing our Investment policy in view of the very low interest rates at present. Another newsletter will be sent out soon.

Adrian Copplestone, Chair of trustees

12th April 2021

The Annual General Meeting was held by Zoom on Wednesday 21st April. The business covered the Trustees Annual Report, the Financial Report and Appointment of Trustees. The current Trustees were reappointed and Mr Martin Cholwill was welcomed as a new Trustee.

Following the AGM, there were two excellent talks:

Supporting Teenagers and Young Adults with Cancer (TYAC) by Clinical Nurse Specialist Hannah Heayn
Covid and Clotting – what’s all the fuss about? by Dr Claire Lentaigne, Consultant Haematologist

9th February 2021

The Trustees met by Zoom on January 26th 2021. We agreed in principle to fund a part-time post for a clinical psychologist to support Teenagers and Young Adults (TYA), most of whom have blood cancers. We also approved the Financial Statement for 2020, which shows a marked drop in income, due to Covid-19. The accounts have now been sent to the Independent Examiner.

We usually hold our AGM in April, and because of the pandemic, we are going to hold the meeting virtually by Zoom on 21st April, 2021. At this meeting, we are appointing Trustees, so if you are interested in becoming a Trustee, please contact me. We are also seeking a treasurer and someone to look after social media. After the AGM there will be a couple of talks including one on the TYA service.

I have attached the paperwork associated with the AGM below – just click on the image and it will open to a new page. The Zoom link will be sent out shortly before the meeting to those who have expressed an interest in attending.

Thank you for your support of PDLF.

Adrian Copplestone, Chair of Trustees

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About PDLF

People who develop Leukaemia (and similar disorders: e.g. Lymphomas, Multiple Myeloma, Myelodysplastic Syndromes & Myeloproliferative Diseases) require complicated treatments and often require long spells in hospital. PDLF helps by providing equipment and facilities that are not available on the NHS, to enable them to have the best possible care and support. Some patients come from further afield in the South West Peninsula for Stem Cell Transplants.

With the help of patients, relatives and volunteers, PDLF has raised over £1.8 million in the last 30 years and helped set up Stem Cell Transplantation & Molecular Biology and helped create better inpatient facilities and a new Day Case Unit. Very little money is spent on administration and expenses: only insurance, licences and other requirements.

PDLF also supports research into malignant haematological diseases and this helps in the diagnosis and management of these illnesses.

Fundraising and Membership

It is easy to become a member of PDLF.

Simply email the Membership Secretary Joanna Farrugia with details of your name, address and email address. It is also helpful to give us some information on your interest in the Fund.

Membership fees are £5 annually, Families £7.50 annually.

Newsletters are sent out periodically and can be found on our News page.

The Annual General Meeting is held in April, and is a chance to meet other members.

Fundraising

Click here to use the Just Giving Fundraising page

Donate

Click here to make a donation.

News

Click here for all our latest newsletters.

What we have done

Click here to see what we have done.

Barn Dance raised £1,164 and was great fun

Research

Research is important because it stimulates people to think about new approaches and keep up to date. Haematology has been a rapidly developing field over the last 50 years, with many of the successes in understanding and treating cancer coming from research on blood diseases.

Plymouth has always been actively involved in Clinical Trials in both national treatment schedules and the use of new drugs. Professor Simon Rule heads up the Research Office, which is currently running 30 clinical trials.

PDLF has been pleased to fund research over the years

Mapping of leukaemia and lymphoma against local water distribution
Growth of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) cells
Immunity to CLL

PDLF has also funded 4 PhDs and has just approved another; the supervisor is Dr Claire Hutchinson.

PDLF has also set up the Molecular Biology Laboratory and all the facilities for separating, culturing, freezing and storing Stem Cells for clinical use. In recent years, this has been outsourced to a commercial provider.

More info