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Evelyn’s Multiple Myeloma Journey – Or, How We Got here

Cancer touches us all – whether through friends, family, or our own experiences. The reality of this hit me hard on December 16, 2020, during the COVID-19 Pandemic. My son Chris took me to Duke Raleigh Emergency after I began experiencing deep bone pain and disorientation. He drove through a relentless rainstorm to get me there. After 36 hours of tests, a young gastroenterology resident exclaimed,’ I think you have Multiple Myeloma!” To her, it was an exciting discovery; to me, it felt like a death sentence. What I had yet to discover was how committed my team at Duke was to not allowing that.

Those words – Multiple Myeloma – haunted me, recalling the painful memories of my father’s battle with the same illness 30 years earlier when I was pregnant with Chris. He passed away just three weeks after his diagnosis. He never met his grandson. Now, at 58, I faced those same words again – what a bittersweet birthday gift. On Christmas Eve, 2020, I returned to Duke Raleigh for two bone marrow biopsies. By January 7, 2021, the diagnosis was confirmed: Multiple Myeloma – aggressive, high-risk and in need of immediate treatment. There is no cure for Multiple Myeloma . . .yet.

Overwhelmed, I chose to go with the flow, as many patients do. The very next day, Chris took me to the Duke University Blood Cancer Center in Durham, or “Big Duke,” to which it’s fondly referred. There I met my oncologist, Dr. Suzanne Kirby and her incredible team. My prognosis was grim – just three years. But Duke had other plans, implementing a robust treatment strategy built on decades of research and discovery in which Duke and other institutions from around the world took part.

Now, almost 4 years post-diagnosis, I am grateful to report that I am on track to pass that initial 3-year diagnosis, despite significant setbacks and hospital stays along the way. I feel stable and thankful for every moment.

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