Multiple myeloma is the second most commonly diagnosed blood cancer, after non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, yet few people know much about this deadly disease.

“I never, ever, anticipated the day where I would hear the word “remission”. It had been quite a journey these last twelve and a half years, walking through various clinical trials, being placed in palliative care in 2015. And just yeah… to hear the word remission, it’s just one that it’s taking it’s time.”

Pamela James, wife, mother, Multiple Myeloma patient, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Medical innovations derived from ongoing clinical trial research have changed the patient journey within multiple myeloma from one of coping with a dire prognosis to hope for the future.

“It is a real honor to be a part of the clinical trials at Princess Margaret for Myeloma. We have been able to see a disease that a decade ago, had a very short survival and patients suffered a lot from this disease. And if you fast forward nowadays, patients routinely live many years. We’ve learned how to use the new drugs in such a way that we can, hopefully, minimize the side effects.”

Dr. Donna Reece, Director, Multiple Myeloma and Related Diseases, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Our goal right now, is to develop sequential, effective treatments that we use in the wisest order, somewhat like having different beads in chain, and making those beads longer for each one, making more beads in the chain so that patients can achieve a long life, with a good quality of life when they are participating in each bead.

To learn more about multiple myeloma, consult with your physician and visit these links below.

 www.myeloma.ca

www.uhn.ca/princessmargaret 

This health education initiative was supported by Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.