By Blood Cancer United
Every person and family affected by blood cancer wants the same thing: more time.
More time happens when there are more breakthroughs. More treatment options. More people benefiting from the advances happening in research today. More reasons to feel hopeful about tomorrow.
That's what Blood Cancer United is working toward every day, and what supporters like you make possible. And because progress is too important to leave undefined, we're working toward a bold goal: to enable people with blood cancer to gain one million additional years of life by 2040.
The goal gives us a way to measure whether we're helping create the future we all want to see, and focuses our efforts on making the biggest possible difference for people living with blood cancer.
What if progress could happen faster?
What if more people with blood cancer got access to breakthrough treatments sooner?
What if promising therapies moved through development faster? What if fewer patients faced barriers that delayed care? What if advances helping some patients today could reach many more patients tomorrow?
These questions inspire so many people to give, advocate, volunteer, and invest in a better future for blood cancer patients.
They're also the questions that sit at the heart of Blood Cancer United's bold goal.
It's ambitious, but it's doable. A growing body of evidence shows that the impact of scientific progress can be measured not only by survival rates, but by something a little more personal: time.
More time with family. More time to celebrate milestones. More time to pursue dreams, make memories, and experience the moments that make life life.
Researchers project that advances in blood cancer treatment are already expected to generate nearly 18.9 million years of life between 2026 and 2040 if progress continues on its current path. Blood Cancer United's bold goal is focused on helping create the conditions for one million additional years of life beyond that projection by accelerating research, improving access to care, and ensuring more people benefit from progress.
So, what does that actually mean? How do you measure a year of life?
Measuring progress in a more human way
Survival rates tell us whether outcomes are improving. They don't tell us how much time those improvements create.
A life-year represents one additional year of life gained because of advances in treatment. If a therapy helps someone live five years longer than they otherwise would have, that's five life-years gained. When those gains are added together across thousands of patients, they show how scientific progress translates into something everyone understands: more time.
For donors, it's also a way to see how investments in research, patient support, and advocacy can add up to meaningful change over time.
Researchers recently used this methodology to look back at the impact of blood cancer treatment advances over the past 75 years. They found that those advances resulted in an estimated 25.8 million life-years saved in the United States since 1949.
As we know, those gains didn't come from a single breakthrough. They came from decades of research, new therapies, improved care, and expanded access for patients. The projection of nearly 18.9 million years of life between 2026 and 2040 builds on that same momentum.
Where could the next million years come from?
Additional years of life can come from many places:
- Helping promising therapies reach patients sooner
- Connecting more people to clinical trials
- Improving outcomes for blood cancers that still have limited treatment options
- Expanding access to effective treatments
- Reducing disparities in care and outcomes
- Removing barriers that prevent patients from benefiting from medical advances
- Transforming treatment and care for kids with blood cancer
No single breakthrough or innovation will create one million additional years of life. Progress happens through thousands of advances, large and small, that help more people live longer and healthier lives.
The same is true of the people who make those advances possible. Every gift, every advocate, and every supporter helps move progress forward.
How Blood Cancer United helps accelerate progress
Creating more years of life requires innovative science and research that leads to new and improved therapies. It requires educational resources and support that help patients navigate difficult decisions and access care. It requires clinical trials that turn discoveries into treatments. It requires advocacy that removes barriers and helps more people benefit from progress.
That's why Blood Cancer United invests across the entire blood cancer ecosystem.
We fund it all.
Different approaches. One goal: helping more people benefit from progress. Every dollar invested in that work helps move us closer to a future where more people can live longer and healthier lives after a blood cancer diagnosis.
Where you come in
For many donors, giving is about hope. Hope that a breakthrough will happen. Hope that more families will have access to the care and support they need. Hope that the future can look different than the present.
The bold goal turns that hope into something measurable. And it belongs to all of us.
Every breakthrough begins as a possibility. Every scientific advancement begins as an investment. Every year of life gained starts with people who believe more progress is possible.
When you support Blood Cancer United, you're helping fund blood cancer research, expand patient support, improve access to care, and accelerate the progress that creates more years of life for people living with blood cancer.
Because behind every life-year is something deeply human: another birthday. Another graduation. Another holiday. Another day.
