We lost a CLL friend, advocate, and scholar to COVID-19.

I am heartbroken and not sure where to start my personal tribute.

Tom Henry was a special person, active in multiple forums, extraordinarily generous in sharing his wisdom as a pharmacist, faith, and hard-earned experience as a CLL patient.

He was my friend, a friend to CLL Society, and a friend to the larger chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL) community . . .

I well remember his stern admonishment of my ordering a grapefruit sorbet for dessert. Didn’t I know about the interactions of grapefruit with my medications? He never could take off his caring and counseling pharmacist’s hat.

At CLL Society, he wrote a lot for us. Here is one of his many original articles, The Role of the Pharmacist in CLL, that is still as relevant and helpful today as it was the day he wrote it . . .

I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the fear that many CLL/SLL patients feel . . . I understand that fear . . . By all means, try to avoid COVID-19, but keep in mind that the vast majority of CLL/SLL patients who become infected will survive.

Finally, at the request of Tom’s wife, the CLL Society has established the Thomas Henry Memorial Fund. If you are interested in supporting our mission of support, education, advocacy, and research in CLL/SLL, the family has suggested in lieu of flowers, one consider a donation . . .

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