Waldenström Finland Summer Summit 2024 – Helsinki
By Jukka Sneck, Waldenström Finland
From IWMF Torch October 2024
We had our annual face-to-face meeting on Saturday, August 24. The meeting took the whole day. Our association was founded five years ago, and this was our fourth face-to-face meeting. This time we had 31 present, the highest number ever. During the first hour, each participant gave a one-minute personal introduction.
After lunch we had a presentation by nutritionist Reijo Laatikainen titled ”Food Choices and Cancer: What Is Helpful, What Is Nonsense.” We had quite a lively discussion after the presentation. It was a relief to understand that nothing on nutrition is absolute; if 80% of your diet is healthy, you are on a good track.
We had a special guest from IWMF, Hannah Syed, Affiliate and Global Partner Consultant. She spent the whole day with us and gave us a presentation of IWMF’s current activities, both in Europe and globally. We are happy to work with IWMF, and we are grateful of getting their needed support, both financial and operational. The last two hours of the meeting we divided into five small groups to make sure all were able to take part in more detailed discussions. Topics included the following:
- How are you, both physically and mentally?
- What is your WM status?
- What do you expect from our association?
- How do you feel about the day?
Feedback about the day was excellent. We had a lot of discussions, a lot of laughter. A few comments were “great to meet in person” (normally we meet once a month in network meetings), “best nutrition presentation I have ever heard,” “great networking,” “lovely peer support,” and “good food.”
All participants together made the day an unforgettable experience.