A global day to give meaning to the word "lymphoma"

The association France Lymphoma Hope hosted the World Day against lymphoma, to know this disease, and published on the occasion of a new topic, written by bestselling author Foenkinos Davis and illustrated by Seb Jarnot.
Lymphoma and cancer
"Lymphoma: This is a cancer that can be treated ...": it is this definition that opens the folder of the association France Lymphoma Hope (FLE) dedicated to the World Day against lymphoma. A useful definition for the disease is still largely unknown to the general public, and the number of people affected is growing at a steady pace of about 5 to 7% per year extra.

In total, 12,000 people per year in France who are diagnosed with lymphoma, among dozens of diseases (about 60) that covers this term. Some reach more children, other adults. Lymphomas can change very slowly, others on the contrary are very aggressive and can, without treatment, lead a person to death in 6 months ... but all are cancers of the lymphatic system (lymph nodes which belong) and the majority, if detected, are treated with effective treatments.

Nonspecific symptoms
For doctors diagnose lymphoma is not easy, because the disease is most often manifested by very general and not always concurrent symptoms: swelling of a lymph node, weight loss, fatigue, night sweats, abdominal pain. .. Only analyzes of biological samples used to establish the diagnosis.

For the general public, "lymphomas affect a system, not an organ, and it is making them difficult to understand," said Guy Bouguet, president and founder of the Association France Lymphoma Hope, during an interview the MPA. However, he highlighted the case of leukemia, cancers affecting the well-known as lymphomas bloodstream, yet twice less frequent.

The lymphatic system, complex and less known to the public as the circulatory system, does not make representations lymphomas. He founded immunity, the body travels through a system of lymphatic channels often fused blood vessels. These structures are used to transport lymph, transparent liquid containing nutrients, waste and immune cells called lymphocytes.

The lymphatic system is also marked by a series of small organs, lymph nodes, which filter the lymph. They include distributed in the groin, neck, armpits and elbows. Some other organs of the body are also specifically connected to the lymphatic system, such as the spleen, bone marrow, tonsils and thymus.

Cancer occurs when certain immune cells, lymphocytes, begin to multiply uncontrollably and accumulate. "They and eventually form tumors in various parts of the lymphatic system, especially the lymph nodes (...), causing them to swell," describes the association in the press launch of the day.

Doctors distinguish Hodgkin, minority (1,300 new cases each year in France), usually reaching young adults, and the family of non-Hodgkin lymphoma (more than 10,000 new cases per year), the most common, striking indiscriminately children, women, men, young and old.

The origins of these cancers remain unknown for the moment, even if risk factors were discovered. Some non-Hodgkin's lymphomas develop in immunocompromised patients (AIDS, hepatitis C infection with the bacterium Helicobacter pylori in the stomach, autoimmune disorders, Epstein-Barr virus ...). Similarly, a small fraction of Hodgkin's is linked to exposure to toxic chemicals.

The first information
France Lymphoma Hope was established in 2006 under the leadership of Guy Bouguet. Itself a lymphoma 8 years ago, he wished at first overcome the lack of information in French on the subject.

One of the missions of the association is therefore to develop documents, distributed in space devoted to patients (Meeting Information Spaces hospitals, for example). All content is approved by the Scientific Committee of Hope Lymphoma France, consisting of a dozen hematologists recognized.

The association, which has about 275 active members, working hand in hand with the League against cancer and launched for the second consecutive year the World Day of lymphoma. The event, according Bouguet Guy, "is for everyone", the sick, the family, but also for the health professions, among which he cites nurses, general practitioners and pharmacists.

"Nurses are particularly present at the conferences we organize" on the occasion of this event, he said.

"In addition to these conferences we try to organize recreational and cultural events. These initiatives are often people who are or have been suffering from lymphoma," said Guy Bouguet.

A Paris therefore held a concert at the Saint-Roch church and a bike ride to night; Lille it was a theatrical and Lyon hiking in the mountains of Beauges. The detailed conference program and other initiatives is available on www.lymphome.org site.

New to dramatize
But the event was also marked by the publication of a new literary-themed lymphoma, based on an idea of France Lymphoma Hope.

Thus, the writer Foenkinos Davis, known for his book "The erotic potential of my wife," and illustrator Seb Jarnot (Liberation Coda Epok ...) agreed to work together to "evoke in words and picture the sixth most common cancer in France, "in the words of the association.

The result is a new, "All hope of the world in a kiss", which chronicles the journey of Edward, a teenager describing himself as "a grim and depressed boy who has no friends," and discovered a lymphoma, which he initially thought it is "a kind of fungus caught in the pool."

The book, printed in 5000 copies will be distributed at conferences and events organized by the association, made available in the hematology of certain hospitals and on the website of the World Day of lymphoma, on which can order it for the price of 5 euros.