Remarks from organizers

Chairperson Shinsaku Iida
Friends of Leukemia Research FundFriends of Leukemia Research Fund is a NPO corporate body that was founded with the objective of eradicating leukemia by supporting Japan Leukemia Research Fund and other leukemia research funds around the world.
Leukemia, which had been considered an incurable disease in the past, has now become a disease with hope for a cure since the number of patients who recover from it is now on the rise thanks to recent medical advances. Having said that, leukemia still remains a serious life-threatening disease and its medical treatment is so severe that it often causes incapacitating adverse drug reactions in patients that healthy individuals cannot even begin to comprehend.
Leukemia accounts for approximately half of childhood cancers, and these infants and young children with the disease need to be isolated in aseptic rooms separated from their mothers. They need our help. Elderly patients with leukemia are also quietly fighting against the disease while waiting for the discovery of new treatments. Often their physical strength has deteriorated to such an extent that they cannot bear the current available severe treatments. They need our help too. Even at this moment while a number of leukemia patients all around the world are fighting against the disease, enthusiastic leukemia researchers are conducting research that will help lead to the eradication of leukemia. They also need our help.
We hope to support and encourage these dedicated leukemia researchers with the help of ordinary citizens like you, so that we can move one step forward to eradicating leukemia. I would like to sincerely ask for your generous support, kind understanding and cooperation with the NPO corporate body, Friends of Leukemia Research Fund.

Executive Director
Kimiaki OgawaI have been interested in bone marrow transplantation since Showa 54 (1979) when I was a research engineer performing HLA tests, which are necessary during transplantation. Japan Marrow Donor Program was established in Heisei 3 (1991). Ever since, it has become possible to save the lives of patients with leukemia – a disease that used to be incurable. So far, a large number of patients have been saved by bone marrow transplants. However, the sad fact is that many leukemia patients do still die. While I was thinking that mankind would have to continue the fight against leukemia forever, I was given the opportunity to meet Japan Leukemia Research Fund, an organization that is "dedicated to the eradication of leukemia." I myself had always believed that "leukemia can surely be eradicated," so it did not take long for me to hit it off with the chairperson, Mr. Shinsaku Iida, who shares this belief. When I resigned my job in Heisei 17 (2005), I was inaugurated as the executive director of the Friends of Leukemia Research Fund. I believed that as long as we gather all our strength and move forward, even though each individual person’s strength is very small, by acting together we will be able to welcome "the day of the eradication of leukemia" in the future.