The Portuguese Association Against Leukaemia (APCL) was founded in January 2002 as a result of the initiative of a group of patients who survived the diseases of the forum Hemato-Oncology (leukemias and lymphomas) and a group of doctors from the Portuguese Institute of Oncology Francisco Gentil (IPOFG) Lisbon who treated them.

The main motivation of the Founders of APCL settled in their understanding of the importance of raising awareness and mobilizing civil society in support of all those who daily fight the devastating disease that is Leukemia.