Maddie's Story
I was diagnosed in February of 2001 at the age of 52. I had been experiencing some morning nausea and weight loss during the previous six months and attributed both to a set of challenging life circumstances. Being a single mother of a young boy, working full-time in a demanding job and caring for my elderly parents who temporarily moved in with me to address some of their individual medical needs seemed explanation enough for why I wasn’t feeling myself. But when I fainted on the job and found myself in the ER, I had a feeling something more significant was happening...
Cancer tried to change my life. Once I find something I like doing, I keep doing it. I’ve lived in a small town, Langhorne, outside Philadelphia, with Barbara, my wife of 44 years, since 1979. We have three grown children: two girls and a boy. I’ve been driving the same green 1967 Corvette since 1991.
I was a 49 year-old father of five adolescent kids with a demanding job and a time-consuming commute when I was diagnosed with MM in 2003. That news, delivered clumsily by my hematologist, left me shell-shocked in his waiting room for over an hour. Nothing gets your attention like a mid-life reminder of your mortality.