Good morning. Well maybe a coincidence but both of my grandfathers had leukemia and died from it and I do not have any information as to what kind of leukemia, nor do I know if they distinguished the differences back then.
I was diagnosed in December 2021 with cll, started treatment in April 2024. Now my brother in Australia who is 61 has been diagnosed.
So, is it genetic? It does make me worry for my children.
Hi @marytheresacll. Worrying about our children is a chronic disease! I think we parents all suffer from that one. We tend to worry about things that haven’t yet happened or might not ever occur.
After reading through several articles on CLL, to see if it’s an inherited disease, here’s an excerpt from Healthline.com:
“Genes passed through families seem to contribute to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) development. Although a family history increases your risk, most people with this history don’t develop CLL.” “Inherited mutations are rarely thought to cause CLL. Genetic changes linked to CLL usually occur during your lifetime.” https://www.healthline.com/health/cll/is-cll-hereditary
So I guess there’s a slightly elevated risk level but it’s not a certainty that any of your children will develop CLL. Keeping in mind they inherited 2 sets of genes. ☺️
What your children can do is to have routine blood work, such as a CBC with differential, to act as a baseline. Then subsequent results can be compared to watch for trends in numbers. There’s also genetic testing if they want to go to those lengths.
But the bottom line is, none of us can predict the future and worrying about ‘what ifs’ will just rob us of precious time.
Good morning. Well maybe a coincidence but both of my grandfathers had leukemia and died from it and I do not have any information as to what kind of leukemia, nor do I know if they distinguished the differences back then.
I was diagnosed in December 2021 with cll, started treatment in April 2024. Now my brother in Australia who is 61 has been diagnosed.
So, is it genetic? It does make me worry for my children.
My maternal grandmother died of leukemia at age 58 when I was two years old, but I have no idea what type. So that's been a question in the back of my mind.
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Hi @marytheresacll. Worrying about our children is a chronic disease! I think we parents all suffer from that one. We tend to worry about things that haven’t yet happened or might not ever occur.
After reading through several articles on CLL, to see if it’s an inherited disease, here’s an excerpt from Healthline.com:
“Genes passed through families seem to contribute to chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) development. Although a family history increases your risk, most people with this history don’t develop CLL.” “Inherited mutations are rarely thought to cause CLL. Genetic changes linked to CLL usually occur during your lifetime.”
https://www.healthline.com/health/cll/is-cll-hereditary
So I guess there’s a slightly elevated risk level but it’s not a certainty that any of your children will develop CLL. Keeping in mind they inherited 2 sets of genes. ☺️
What your children can do is to have routine blood work, such as a CBC with differential, to act as a baseline. Then subsequent results can be compared to watch for trends in numbers. There’s also genetic testing if they want to go to those lengths.
But the bottom line is, none of us can predict the future and worrying about ‘what ifs’ will just rob us of precious time.
My maternal grandmother died of leukemia at age 58 when I was two years old, but I have no idea what type. So that's been a question in the back of my mind.