Members of PMMNG share their stories here about how multiple myeloma has affected their lives. We especially hope these stories will help new patients. Click the story title or the "Read More" link to read the member's full story.
We'd love to hear your story! If you'd like to add your story, please email it to Mike Burns at [email protected].
As an active retired nurse, after six years of routine blood tests showing MGUS, Meryle was diagnosed with active multiple myeloma in January of 2019. She has been having treatment since then, and is still very active and living life.
Meryl recently talked about her myeloma journey with Patient Power.
Julie was diagnosed with high-risk multiple myeloma in October, 2020. She was asked by The Patient Story website to tell her story. Her story is so compelling that we asked her to let us link to it.
As the shortest of short summaries, she has undergone 4 lines of treatment in less than 3 years, which includes 2 clinical trials.
"My Myeloma Story with the Elephant on My Back"
Since starting our love affair in 1996, my wife Stephanie and I have shared a passion for travel and adventure. In 2017, having been married for 18 years, we visited Shanghai, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The adventures in each venue could fill many pages, but those stories are for another day.
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.
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 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.
Everything started in 2009 with a curious result on a routine blood test ordered by my allergist. After lots more tests, I was told that I had "monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance," or MGUS.
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.