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Sandy Craine: Obituary

With a heavy heart I am very sad to announce that Sandy, the founder of CML Support UK, died on the 5th of October from a cancer that was unrelated to CML.

Sandy was a pioneering CML patient and was one of the very first people in the world to benefit from imatinib due to her participation in the very first study of the drug turning her critical diagnosis of CML into one she lived with for over 20 years.

Sandy founded CML Support UK and was also a founding member of CML Advocates - an international network of CML patient advocates.

She was passionate about art and used clay as her medium of expression in her studio and shop in London, which I have had the pleasure of visiting on occasion.

Sandy was a remarkable person who touched many lives with her art and her advocacy. On a personal note, she was a source of great strength and information to me when I was first diagnosed. It is down to her that I became interested in becoming a patient advocate myself.

She will be greatly missed by her partner, her family, her friends, and the CML community.

David.

Very sorry to read this. This forum was invaluable to me when my husband was first diagnosed. Please pass our gratitude and condolences to Sandy's family.

David thanks for letting us know. I am greatly saddened to hear of Sandy's passing. When I was diagnosed (16 years ago) she was a great source of information and CML Support became my knowledge support system on the subject. I was delighted to meet her at the patient day in 2018. My input to this forum is my way of thanking her in particular for the support I received in the early days. RIP Sandy

RIP..

OM SHANTI 🙏🙏🙏

Dear David
I can only reiterate what Alistair has said. Sandy was a great support when I was diagnosed and found the cml support group 14 years ago, and also when a friend of mine died after a transplant. I remember the petition to NICE to allow Dasatinib for patients unable to tolerate imatinib, (of which my friend was one) led again by Sandy I believe. She never failed to reply to emails I sent her in those early days, especially concerning my friend, and was such a warm, caring person. All I can do is send love and condolences to her family and friends.
Best
Chrissie

My sincere condolences. She has had a profound effect on so many of us patients who come here for support. May she rest in peace.

To touch people with the words she wrote is a testament to the kind of person she was. In my darkest hour, she was able to instill a sense of calm, empathy and confidence that only a genuinely inspiring person could. Thank you Sandy.

Condolences to all her friends and family!

Very sorry to hear this. Please pass on a thank you to her family. This site has meant a lot to me and my family. Condolences and hugs.

Hi

Very sorry to hear the news,this site was a source of comfort to my family when husband was first diagnosed.Condolences to Sandy's family

My sympathies to her family and friends. This site is, and I hope will continue to be, a great source of comfort and information to those of us with CML and our families.

Pat

I’m so sad to hear of Sandy’s passing. I was diagnosed with cml in 2003, TKI therapy was a relatively new treatment. There was a lot of unknowns. I found the cml support group so helpful in those dark early days… I still find it so reassuring to know if I’m worried about something then I can login and find you good people are there to reassure and understand the difficulties we can face living with cml. I found David’s obituary very moving.
With sadness
Michelle

Oh my goodness David,

I am so sorry to hear of this. Sandy has been an incredible help on here and without this amazing forum I don’t think I’d be as strong as I am now.

I am really shocked to hear of this news and Sandy obviously kept her other diagnosis personal. Life really can be terribly cruel as if CML alone wasn’t enough.

My thoughts are with her friends and family.

Al

I was so sad to learn of Sandy's passing. Sandy was an outstanding pioneer and helped so many people have hope in treating their CML. I had the pleasure to exchange private correspondence with her over the years which I treasure. I had hoped to meet her one day in the near future when traveling to the U.K. Her patient advocacy is an inspiration and she will be greatly missed.

Oh, this is just such sad, sad news! Thank you, David, for posting. I can only reiterate what everyone else has said about the good that she did with this site for all of us. In fact, this very day I got some bad news and was turning to this site for the knowledge and understanding it provides. Even after 14 years, fear and confusion (and dread and despair) can surface and remind us again that we are never vouchsafed an easy road. I always thought, like an irrational child, that Sandy would always be here. She was the greatest.

Thank you Sandy for creating this platform and for making so much valuable knowledge available to people all over the world. The information in this forum changed many lives for the better.

I hope she had a fulfilling life and that her legacy lives through her family and friends.

I'm so sorry to hear this. CML Support was my main source of information and comfort when I was diagnosed back in 2009, when things felt more uncertain. Sending my condolences to Sandy's family and the team that worked alongside her.

I was so shocked to read about Sandy's passing....Sandy was the Captain of our ship..
As everyone else has posted ..without this site I also would have been in a mess I would have felt alone and desperate not knowing who to ask especially in the middle of the night when you are feeling scared and weepy....
When Covid hit the world thanks to Sandy setting up this forum allowed everyone to help and give help and advice was so comfort knowing we was all in it together.
Thank you Sandy from the bottom of my heart may you RIP
Condolences to all her friends and family!

David,

Tragic and shocking news. What a wonderful support Sandy has been to us all, not only by way of this fantastically useful site, but also by personal messages shared with many of us.

Certainly when I was first diagnosed, CML support took me from the dark stage of shock and ignorance to one of most useful knowledge and help from many of the members. However Sandy’s contribution was outstanding.

Condolences to all her family and friends. She will be sorely missed by all.

Best wishes,

David

I am very sad to hear this news.

Although I never met Sandy, I can tell she is a remarkable person. I speak of her in the present tense as a sign of respect, admiration, and the fact that the things she did has and will continue to help others.

Sending condolences to Sandy’s family and friends. Everything I have learned about her on this forum speaks to this special lady who cared about sharing her journey with all of us.

I have found this forum so helpful and am thankful that Sandy pioneered this opportunity for sharing.

I am so sorry to read this, this forum has been invaluable to me, well done to her (and you) for being a patient advocate, such a selfless thing to do for us all. May she rest in peace.

i am so sad to read that Sandy has passed away. i met Sandy at the first CML seminar ,such a wonderful person and fighter xx

David, thanks so much for sharing this news with the forum. Sandy was a hero in every sense of the word and I am so devastated to hear of her passing. This forum has been so helpful to so many of us and I am so grateful to her for starting it, as I know all of us are. My sincere condolences to her friends and family.