Hello everybody,

I received the news today that I have CLL. 

If I'm honest, the agonising 3 weeks I've waited to find out what was wrong with me made me more anxious than the news itself. 
 

The irony of it all, is that I had signed up to DKMS and they confirmed I was a match so I travelled to London to provide a stem cell donation to someone suffering a blood cancer... that's when they conducted a full blood count and found my lymphocytes were 25. I had a test a week later and they were at 22.3. 
 

Apart from the blood count, I'm showing no other symptoms. They've done further tests today to check on particular genes and now the waiting begins again - how do you control that level of anxiety!?

The consultant said I was one of the youngest to ever present to him with CLL and immediately stated the best form of treatment was 'watch and wait'.

I've taken some solace in the fact that the consultant said that he truly believes he will be handing me over to his successor when he retires - the guy is in his late 30's/early 40's. 
 

Has anybody else experienced a diagnosis of CLL under 40 years of age? The consultant even suggested I could have had it for as long as 10 years already and not known about it!!

What has been your experiences after been diagnosed? How long before you needed treatment? What happened after treatment? 
 

Thank you all