I was in the midst of purchasing a life insurance policy when a routine insurance exam detected an abnormally high protein in my urine.  My family doctor advised me to wait and see if anything progressed and since there were no other symptoms, I felt comfortable with his recommendation.

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.