Lymphoma

Paul Allen, Microsoft Co-Founder, Has Lymphoma again

Nov. 16 (Bloomberg) — Paul Allen, Microsoft Corp.’s co- founder, has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and is undergoing chemotherapy.

Allen is “feeling okay and remains upbeat,” his sister Jody Allen said in an e-mail to employees of Vulcan Inc., his investment group. He was diagnosed earlier this month and has diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, which she said is a “relatively common form” of the disease.

The 56-year-old Allen successfully fought off Hodgkin’s lymphoma more than 25 years ago, an illness that caused him to leave Microsoft. Since then, he has invested in technology companies, including the creation of St. Louis-based cable-TV provider Charter Communications Inc., which has filed for bankruptcy.

Allen has no plans to change his role at Vulcan, said Jody Allen, the firm’s chief executive officer. While Paul Allen is working and plans to continue, his sister said “his health comes first.”

Non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma is a group of cancers that trigger white blood cells to grow uncontrollably and cause masses to form in the lymph nodes. Allen’s cancer, diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, accounts for as much as 30 percent of newly diagnosed cases and is an aggressive, or fast-growing, lymphoma, according to the Lymphoma Research Foundation. It can arise in lymph nodes or outside the lymphatic system, in the gastrointestinal tract, testes, thyroid, skin, breast, bone or brain, the foundation said.

66,000 New Cases

Almost 66,000 new cases of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma will be diagnosed in the U.S. this year, and 19,500 people will die from the disease, according to the National Cancer Institute. Prognosis and treatment depend upon the stage and type of the disease.

Vulcan has invested in cancer-drug developers including BiPar Sciences Inc. and Seattle Genetics Inc. Allen’s foundation has donated to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle.

Allen, the son of a librarian, founded Microsoft with Bill Gates, a classmate at the private Lakeside School in Seattle.

“Melinda and I have Paul and his family in our thoughts and prayers,” Gates, now chairman of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, said in a statement. “Paul is among my closest friends and I know him to be a strong and resilient individual.”

Among Allen’s holdings are the Seattle Seahawks football team and the Portland Trailblazers basketball team. Allen also backed a Seattle music and science-fiction museum housed in a multicolored Frank Gehry-designed building that anchored the redevelopment of Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.

Allen, who ranked No. 2 on Forbes magazine’s list of the richest Americans in 1999, with a $40 billion fortune, fell to No. 12 last year, with $16 billion.

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