Blazers Owner Paul Allen Diagnosed With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma
According to a post by John Cook on TechFlash.com, Blazers Owner Paul Allen has been diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma.
The news was disclosed by Allen's sister in an email message to employees of his investment company, Vulcan, Inc. Click through above for the text of that email.
As the article notes, Allen beat Hodgkin's disease in 1983 but this is a different type of lymphoma. For more information about this disease, click here.
Thoughts and prayers to Mr. Allen.
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Update: Blazers Broadcaster Mike Barrett made this statement during the second quarter of tonight's Blazers/Hawks game.
"Paul's passion for the Trail Blazers could not be more vibrant. He is the team's greatest fan and he's extremely excited for what the season will bring. Our commitment to him is to continue to execute his vision of bringing a winning organization to Portland. We ask that all of you keep him in your thoughts and prayers at this time. He certainly is in ours. Paul, we know you're watching this ballgame tonight. And we're thinking about you and praying for you and we know you're going to beat this thing again."
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-- Ben Golliver | benjamin.golliver@gmail.com | Twitter
9 months ago
Ben Golliver
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I see, I didn't click through on the link and remembered it differently
Ceterum censeo Lakers esse delendam
Yep...
Non Hodgkin’s is, unfortunately, a lot worse than Hodgkin’s. And add to it the fact that he’s had lymphoma before and this is a relapse, and this is terrible news… in terms of prognosis.
what?
yes hodgkins is more treatable but who said this is relapse? they are two separate cancers (hodgkins + non-hodgkins). Not a remission unless he had this non-hodgkins prior. And it depends on what type of lymphoma it is still.
Please, for the love of all that is holy, please stop using the following: "Book it.", "FTW", "Epic" & "Fail".
...no seriously--stop.
strain makes it sound like an infection with a different type of bug. this is a cancer. better to refer to it as a different type or something, but strain is inappropriate
Please, for the love of all that is holy, please stop using the following: "Book it.", "FTW", "Epic" & "Fail".
...no seriously--stop.
excuse me for soundsing dumb...
but what is that?
"I don't always read blogs regarding the Trail Blazers
...but when I do... I read Blazers Edge."
- resurrect_ha28
by FiveOhThree-RipCity!! on Nov 16, 2009 4:47 PM PST reply actions
Does this typically result in death?
"I don't always read blogs regarding the Trail Blazers
...but when I do... I read Blazers Edge."
- resurrect_ha28
by FiveOhThree-RipCity!! on Nov 16, 2009 4:51 PM PST up reply actions
it’s treatable… based on raw data… it kills about 30% of teh time… regardless, It’s not good
Honor Jordan, Retire #45
by The Arkitect on Nov 16, 2009 4:52 PM PST up reply actions
The fact that he's had lymphoma before makes
his prognosis a lot worse. Or at least that’s what I’ve been lead to believe having someone close to me go through Hodgkin’s before.
Honestly, from some of the shots of him sitting at
games, this isn’t surprising news. He has not looked healthy.
Oh man. i thought he was looking a little ragged and thin.
Poop Paul.
good luck Mr. Allen. Please get well soon.
"Quid, Me Anxius Sum?"
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Year5000
Yikes! that was supposed to be "poor Paul."
major fail on my part.
"Quid, Me Anxius Sum?"
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Year5000
Unfortunately not
For all types of this cancer, the one-year relative survival rate for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is about 70 percent, and the five-year survival rate is about 50 percent. Of course it depends on a number of individual factors how you react to treatment, and there are a number of variants how aggressive this cancer is.
Ceterum censeo Lakers esse delendam
Well, Paul is going to have the best care $ can buy, that's for sure.
"Quid, Me Anxius Sum?"
http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/Year5000
not a relapse
it’s called non hodgkins for a reason it’s not hodgkins. he’s going to get superb care. he’ll be around for a long time
by doomsdaymachine on Nov 16, 2009 4:55 PM PST reply actions
That's horrible
I wish the best to PA. I’m sure he’ll fight this with all he has.
Witty Unpredictable Talent and Natural Game
Let's hope for the best regarding Paul Allen, with the percentages being on his side.
Back in the mid-‘80s, my mom also had Hodgkin disease. Luckily for her, though, she hasn’t had a recurrence of any kind so far in her life. It does put things in perspective, though, especially since my mom is just five years younger than Allen.
Dear Paul Allen:
Fire Nate McMillan & hire Jeff Van Gundy.
Sincerely,
AK1984
There was a time I really dislike Paul Allen for awhile but since then he's done everything right
And made me love my team again .
Get better Paul, our thoughts are with you.
Blazer Fan
Get well soon, Paul
We need you at those games.
"My shoulder is OK. And away we go." -- Nic Batum
"wang-dang diddly wubba SPROING wow-wow" -- Dave
if we loose allen
we loose the blazers and any chance of gettin a championship
Trade for Luis Amundson!!Do it KP!!
That's completely untrue. I don't even want to respond to you're trolling...
but it’s important to note that Mr. Allen’s health should be the primary and sole focus right now.
It's an uncouth remark, yes. I, however, wouldn't consider it "trolling," which is an oversued term.
Dear Paul Allen:
Fire Nate McMillan & hire Jeff Van Gundy.
Sincerely,
AK1984
CroRupt may indeed be trolling, and his remark was certainly uncouth
But if the sentiment he expresses so crudely hasn’t crossed your mind, you’re either a saint or in denial. Most of us don’t know Paul Allen or his family personally. We don’t even know much about him, as he’s a very private person. On the other hand, like Allen (by all accounts), we’re passionate about the Portland Trailblazers. They provide a much-needed escape from life’s many unpleasant realities—including, yes, death and disease.
When Brandon Roy or Greg Oden suffers a hangnail, BE Nation behaves as though the sky were falling. Yet when the man most responsible for the current success and future aspirations of the Blazers is stricken with a potentially fatal disease, the possible consequences for the franchise aren’t supposed to even cross our minds?
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
I should add that I do hope for Paul Allen's full recovery on a human as well as a fan level
He does seem to be a good guy. Contrary to general opinion, being a billionaire isn’t entirely an enviable thing. What a lonely, isolating thing great wealth must be. Remember “SPAM?”
Most rich people are less than sympathetic (think Donald Trump). But Paul Allen is OUR rich guy—a true Blazer fan. Even if he weren’t the owner, I’d wish him the best in this difficult time. Not that I’d wish disease on anybody—yes, even the aforementioned Mr. Trump…
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
by hurryup09 on Nov 16, 2009 11:24 PM PST up reply actions 1 recs
From the National Cancer Institute
to say it a little more technically:
Definition of non-Hodgkin lymphoma: Any of a large group of cancers of lymphocytes (white blood cells). Non-Hodgkin lymphomas can occur at any age and are often marked by lymph nodes that are larger than normal, fever, and weight loss. There are many different types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These types can be divided into aggressive (fast-growing) and indolent (slow-growing) types, and they can be formed from either B-cells or T-cells. B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas include Burkitt lymphoma, chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, immunoblastic large cell lymphoma, precursor B-lymphoblastic lymphoma, and mantle cell lymphoma. T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas include mycosis fungoides, anaplastic large cell lymphoma, and precursor T-lymphoblastic lymphoma. Lymphomas that occur after bone marrow or stem cell transplantation are usually B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphomas. Prognosis and treatment depend on the stage and type of disease. Also called NHL.
Estimated new cases and deaths from non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States in 2009:
New cases: 65,980
Deaths: 19,500
Copy from my fanshot
I have a lot of respect for Paul Allen. He seems like a good NBA owner, the type who lets his GM and Coach call the shots, doesn’t look for the limelight and doesn’t go out of his way to pinch pennies.
I also feel like I have a bond with him as a life-long Jimi Hendrix fan (see my username). The amount work he’s done to bring Hendrix’s life work, as well as music in general, with the world really is special.
% With the power of soul, anything is possible %
Get well soon, Paul.
Terrible terrible news.
Good luck Mr. Allen.
"When a hyper-intense guy looks for ways to fire himself up, yeah, it pretty much comes out as wild eyed psycho lunacy." - Jeff Clark from C's blog on KG
Or rather...
Wishing good health.
"When a hyper-intense guy looks for ways to fire himself up, yeah, it pretty much comes out as wild eyed psycho lunacy." - Jeff Clark from C's blog on KG
by Khalid El-Amin on Nov 16, 2009 9:11 PM PST up reply actions
This is very sad news but I feel confident you'll win this one, Paul.
I’m sorry you have to go through it. Get well.
"Aneurysm".
When Outlaw wins a game on a last-second shot, it’s called an "annthefaneurysm". QualityPie
A little more info from personal knowledge
Non-Hodgkins lymphoma is generally very treatable, but is incurable.
It is most often treated with chemotherapy. This does not always work, and thus some patients do not live very long, but the vast majority of the time it puts the cancer into remission. After a period of remission, the cancer will return, and chemo will again be used. The length of the remission period is widely variable, and unpredictable. It could be a couple of months or several years.
Chemo will be used again when the cancer returns. This cycle will be repeated, but as time goes by the chemo becomes less and less effective, and eventually, the treatment simply doesn’t work.
Treatment has greatly improved. The one year survival rate used to be around 30%, and has climbed to just above 70%, as Norsk posted above. The five year survival rate is currently around 50%, but this is also greatly improving. New experimental treatments are being tried all the time, with some success.
Every individual is different. A man I knew lived 22 years after being told he had less than six months. The last couple of years were very difficult, because the chemotherapy was very hard on him, and he had very short breaks between the treatments.
The better a person’s health, the better able they are to withstand the effects of the chemo. But eventually it will reach the point where the chemo doesn’t work. Since Paul Allen can afford the very best medical care, I would be optimistic that his medium term chances are better than most. But the very best medical care is no guarantee that his cancer will indeed respond to the treatment, and is not going to have any impact on how long his periods of remission will be. Hopefully, he will stay active and get rid of any unhealthy habits — it will help him through the chemo.
Hope that helps people understand this a little better.
TwoDeep, you were right, unfortunately.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
by jscot on Nov 16, 2009 10:20 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
The other source of hope is that better treatments will arrive in time to help Mr. Allen
Thanks to his wealth, he should receive state of the art medical care for his condition. He can even fund cutting edge research himself. The prognosis (based on what we currently know) isn’t good. But Paul Allen may yet outlive us all.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
Yes, this is one condition for which hope for better treatment is real
Some cancers work quickly. This one does sometimes, but usually there is some time.
And of course, Paul Allen may outlive us all. 5% of Bedgers probably jumped off a bridge within 30 minutes of the finish of overtime last night. The rest of us are all candidates to crash our cars or have heart attacks or choke on our dinner. Life is great that way.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Jscot, thank you for this information. Much appreciated.
by Ben Golliver on Nov 17, 2009 12:32 AM PST via mobile up reply actions
Glad to help, as always
It’s not a nice disease, but lots of people live a reasonable life for a long time.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Correction
I posted above that the five year survival rate is 50%. This is a UK figure.
According to this site, the five year survival rate is 67% in the U.S. It doesn’t give a one year survival rate — presumably that would be significantly higher.
I am guessing the disparity would be due to quicker treatment (no waiting lists) and overall health due to (unfortunately) very high levels of obesity, alcohol and drug abuse, and smoking in the UK. We are sometimes called “the sick man of Europe”. It may be that there are differences in methodology, though, and that the disparity is not as great as the simple statistics make it appear. I don’t know enough about that to comment.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Thanks for the info, jscot
I’m kind of amazed that only 55 comments have been made in this thread to date. My hunch is that Blazer fans still don’t realize how serious this is, partly due to confusion re/ the two “Hodgkins”. If the diagnosis had been another one of the bad cancers—e.g., leukemia or liver cancer—maybe there would be a lot more alarm in Blazer Land.
Or maybe this is plain old denial. Last night’s loss to the Hawks will be practically forgotten in a month. Not so this news about Paul Allen’s health.
"We don't back down to nobody." --Joel Przybilla
With non-Hodgkins, we just don't know
Paul Allen could live for twenty years, and die of sunstroke on his yacht. But he might have less than a year, too.
What it does mean is he has some unpleasant times ahead, unfortunately. Hopefully, it goes into remission quickly and stays that way for a long time.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
If it’s a relative survival rate, other factors should have been eliminated (such as if you die from a heart attack or a stroke while being in treatment).
Ceterum censeo Lakers esse delendam
My understanding on the UK rate
was that it also eliminates those factors.
It would be no surprise to me to find results better in the US than the UK, but I wouldn’t have expected the gap to be so significant.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Our Hearts, Thoughts and Prayers are with You Paul Allen.
May You Win as many battles against this foe as it takes to see your team win a Championship.
Fight the Good Fight every day and never give up or give in.
May God give you strength,
Blazer's Edge Ambassador to The Dream Shake Blog
LMA Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I <3 LMA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
LMA - Putting the POWER in POWER FORWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The concussion must have jarred him into "Destroy All Opposition Terminator Mode!" - BlazersOrBust
29:20 Mins, 10-19 FGs, +14, 4 Off, 13 Rebs, 1 Ast, 1 Stl, 20 points!!!! LMA vs David West 11-13-09
by LaMarvelous on Nov 16, 2009 11:17 PM PST reply actions 1 recs
Well said
The Blazers must win a championship so that Paul Allen can suck in all the great vibes exuding from Blazer fans everywhere.
This force will be no match for any cancer.
Go Blazers and Go Paul Allen.
Paul - Best wishes for a strong fight and speedy recovery!
You are an incredible owner and quiet but strong leader of the organization. I hope you are able to see the team succeed for many more years and even decades. Positive thoughts from Blazers fans in every direction are coming your way. We know you can beat this thing.
put a body on 'em
Some additional info about the specific form of NHL that Paul Allen has (f/ American Cancer Society)
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma
This is one of the more common types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma in the United States, accounting for about 1 out of every 3 cases. The cells are fairly large when viewed under the microscope.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) can affect any age group but occurs mostly in older people (the average age is mid-60s). It usually starts as a quickly growing mass in an internal lymph node, such as in the chest or abdomen or in a lymph node that you can feel, such as in the neck or armpit. Although this lymphoma usually starts in lymph nodes, it can grow in other areas such as the intestines, bone, or even the brain or spinal cord.
About 1 out of 3 of these lymphomas is confined to one part of the body (localized) when it is found. Localized lymphomas are easier to treat than when they have spread to other parts of the body. Genetic tests have shown that there are different subtypes of DLBCL, even though they look the same under the microscope. These subtypes seem to have different outlooks (prognoses) and responses to treatment.
This is a fast growing lymphoma, but it often responds well to treatment with chemotherapy. Overall, about 3 out of 4 people will have no signs of disease after initial treatment, and about half of all people with this lymphoma are cured with therapy.
http://www.cancer.org/docroot/cri/content/cri_2_4_1x_what_is_non_hodgkins_lymphoma_32.asp
Ah, that's much more specific
I didn’t know we were talking DLBCL. That’s generally more optimistic — frequent recurrence is much less likely.
"Woulda, Coulda, Mighta and Shoulda – the Four Horsemen of the Procrastocalypse" - Red-5
Good luck PA...
With the collective thoughts,prayers and karma from BEdge, you will beat this.
"I'm a man, but I can change.....if I have to......I guess." - Red Green
Although it may not seem like the desired idea. Let me suggest
that we put patches on our uniforms to commemorate Paul Allen. As we did with Kevin Duckworth last year, putting “PA” on our jersey’s this year would be a fine commemoration to Allen. It may even give our team something to play their hearts out for, like last years surprising 54 win team.
I hope this doesn’t sound insensitive. This isn’t my first thought, I do hope Paul gets over this and gets better. He’s been the best owner for this franchise and I can only hope that he’s with us for many more years.
Andre to Roy alley oops = 24-7 = All day every day
Baron Davis prays for Paul Allen too
Cool guy
The Kings have the best bench I’ve seen. There are easily 14 guys on this team good enough for every bench in the league. Now if we could only get some starters, I’d totally jizz in my pants.
Kings fan
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