March is Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month. It’s the time when multiple myeloma survivors reach out to the 22,000 newly diagnosed in the U.S. each year. As a nine-year survivor, a co-leader for the Twin Cities and Stillwater multiple myeloma support groups, and editor of the Myeloma Support Minnesota website (myelomasmn.wordpress.com), my advice to anyone who has this incurable disease is to join a support group. Don’t be isolated. Don’t be proud. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Take the opportunity to learn from those who are already living with your (domestic, financial, legal, medical, social, work) problems. Visit your local support group. If you can’t find one, contact the International Myeloma Foundation at myeloma.org to see about starting a new group in your area or join one of the online groups offered by the IMF, CancerCare (osgportal.cancercare.org/register) or Facebook.

Multiple myleloma is not only giving you the fight of your life; it’s the fight for your life. Don’t fight it alone.

 

Gerry Landy

Saint Paul