Browns Owners Donate $12.5M for CLL Research

Cleveland Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam have donated $12.5 million to support research and treatment for blood cancers, with a focus on chronic lymphocytic leukemia and other rare forms of the disease.

The gift includes $10 million to the Oxford-Harrington Rare Disease Centre in England, which will fund research and drug development targeting chronic lymphocytic leukemia, or CLL, and similar rare blood cancers. An additional $2.5 million will go to the University Hospitals Seidman Cancer Center in Cleveland. That portion of the donation will establish an endowed chair dedicated to CLL research and create an innovation fund to accelerate improvements in patient care.

Dee Haslam, who was diagnosed with CLL in 2021, shared her personal motivation in a statement. "I am extremely grateful that I am living a full, healthy life after being diagnosed with CLL in 2021," she said. "Together with UH Seidman Cancer Center and the Oxford-Harrington Centre, we hope to increase knowledge of CLL, generate new treatments and give others the confidence and information they need to navigate the disease. Ideally, cures for other blood disorders will be discovered in the process."