How Advancements in Multiple Myeloma Treatment Is Giving Patients Hope
- When Louise Greenbank was experiencing constant fatigue and loss of appetite, doctors initially told her it was due to menopause. However, it was a rare type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma.
- Now, the 48-year-old mom of three has successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant, received a new drug combination called DVTD, and is taking maintenance medication after being declared in remission. She’s sharing her story, hoping she may influence others to get checked sooner rather than later because “life is for living.”
- Multiple myeloma is a rare type of blood cancer that hinders the body’s ability to fight infections. It can cause weakness, dizziness, bone pain, and confusion, among other symptoms. Advancements in multiple myeloma treatments have improved the lives of patients battling the disease.
- Over the last 20 years, Dr. Paul Richardson, a multiple myeloma specialist at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, says treatments have extended the average length of life for patients roughly four times what it was just two decades ago.
Now, at 48 years old, Greenbank has successfully undergone a bone marrow transplant, received a new drug combination called DVTD, and is taking maintenance medication after being declared in remission. She’s sharing her story, hoping she may influence others to get checked sooner than later, because “life is for living.”
“I was just sleeping all the time, no appetite, I was going to the toilet a lot, and I was getting quite confused. I went back to the doctors, and they tested me for bowel cancer, but it was all clear, but they discovered my blood count was low, and it looked as if I had an internal bleed.”
Helping Patients Better Understand Multiple Myeloma
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- Choosing the Best Treatment for Relapsed Multiple Myeloma
- Diagnosis: Do I Have Multiple Myeloma?
- Are the Treatments the Same for a Second or Third Relapse of Multiple Myeloma?
- Can Multiple Myeloma Patients Achieve a Durable Remission After Induction Therapy & Skip or Delay a Stem Cell Transplant?
She explained further, “They referred me to the hospital for some more tests, but there was nothing else they could do there and then really. They tried to blame it on the menopause because of my age – I couldn’t believe it.”
Before being diagnosed with cancer, Greenbank was prescribed pain medication for inflammation and saw no improvement within one week. At a follow-up visit with her doctor, a blood test revealed she was anemic, prompting her to be referred to a hematologist, a blood specialist.
Greenbank recounted to PA Life that days after learning she was anemic (a condition where the body has a lower count of red blood cells or the hemoglobin concentration inside the red blood cells), she felt sicker.
She explained, “My husband thought I had a stroke – I couldn’t speak or really sit up and hold my head up properly. He took me back to the doctor and explained that he thought there was something seriously wrong, and the doctor did some more tests.”
The Benefit of Adding Daratumumab to Multiple Myeloma Drug Combinations
Noting how the following day, she received a call from her doctor telling her to go to a hospital, she said, “At this point, I could hardly walk or talk; it was so frightening. I can remember telling the doctors and nurses that I wasn’t drunk. I remember being paranoid because I was slurring my words so much.
“The doctor then said, ‘I know you’re not, you’re seriously ill.”
The former convenience store worker ultimately received her diagnosis just a few hours before her 46th birthday. Additional scans and a bone marrow biopsy revealed she had multiple myeloma. Additionally, the rib pin she first experienced was due to her rib being broken. She also had kidney failure.
Luckily, Greenbank got a new type of combination treatment called DVTD, which consists of darzalex, Velcade, thalidomide, and dexamethasone, which has only been available for eligible patients in Scotland.
Greenbank underwent the treatment for four months, starting in August 2021. She then had a bone marrow transplant and was said to be in remission.
Since November 2022, Greenbank has been taking maintenance medication to prevent the cancer from returning, and she gets checked at the hospital every four weeks.
After all that she’s been through, Greenbank insists on traveling and doing all she dreams of, admitting, “This is my life now. It’s my new normal.”
A Stem Cell Transplant May Be a Necessary Step In Your Multiple Myeloma Journey
Greenbank has maintained hope for the future, despite battling the “incurable disease,” and told Myeloma UK in a recent interview, “I’m quite a pragmatic, let’s-get-this-done person. I thought we needed to turn this around. I read the myeloma Facebook page, and people said they’d had it for 10 years, and I thought, I can do this.”
“I think my three children were a Godsend. I didn’t have time to stop and think about things; I had to be Mom. I have goals in my head of what I want to achieve – and that’s what keeps me going.”
She continued, “Goals of where I get to before I relapse. I want to get my son to leave primary school in two years and my eldest to finish high school. She wants to do medicine and always has since she was a little girl. My ultimate goal is to see her finish medical school. She’s going to have a prom, and I want to see that before I relapse. I’m 50 in two years and would like to do another big holiday with my children and husband.
“My attitude now is, don’t put things off; life is for living.”
Understanding Multiple Myeloma
Louise Greenbank was diagnosed with a rare type of blood cancer called multiple myeloma (also called just myeloma).
Multiple myeloma involves plasma cells, a specific kind of mature white blood cell in the bone marrow that helps ward off infection by producing proteins that help your immune system fend itself against germs.
To better understand multiple myeloma, talking about the bone marrow is essential. Dr. Mikkael Sekeres, the chief of the Division of Hematology at the University of Miami Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, previously told SurvivorNet, “The bone marrow is the factory that makes all of the cells that wind up in our bloodstream.”
The bone marrow makes red blood cells, which bring oxygen to our tissues; white blood cells, which fight infections; and platelets, which help stop bleeding.
For people with multiple myeloma, cancerous plasma cells, or myelomas, grow uncontrollably in the bone marrow and crowd out healthy white blood cells. This, in turn, inhibits the immune system’s ability to fight off infection, which can lead to fatigue.
The myelomas eventually grow too large in the bone marrow, which can cause bone fractures. Myelomas can also lead to kidney damage because these cancerous cells release abnormally high levels of antibodies into the bloodstream, which eventually build up in the kidney since it’s unable to process these extra proteins.
What Is a Blood Cancer — How Is It Different?
According to University of California at San Francisco hematologist-oncologist Dr. Nina Shah, cases of multiple myeloma can be categorized to help physicians decide on the appropriate courses of treatment.
“We tend to (divide them) based on how risky the myeloma is, whereas other cancers will be staged based on how far the cancer has spread,” Dr. Shah tells SurvivorNet.
Technically, there is no cure for this disease, but recent advances in medicine have made room for hope, especially with early diagnoses.
However, Dr. Shah adds, “We want to make sure we make people understand that it’s a disease that you can live with, not necessarily have to die off.”
How to Cope If You’ve Been Diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma?
Multiple myeloma diagnoses can be confirmed after conducting blood tests that look for signs of anemia, a condition marked by few healthy blood cells. Examining your kidneys for abnormal functioning and a bone marrow biopsy can also help doctors with a diagnosis.
WATCH: Multiple Myeloma diagnosis.
Imaging tests, including X-rays, PET scans, and an MRI scan, can also look for bone lesions.
Dr. Ravi Vij, a Medical Oncologist at Washington University, St. Louis, says the blood tests are done because “in multiple myeloma, one of the cardinal manifestations is a low hemoglobin or low red cell count, and this is due to the fact that the bone marrow is not producing blood cells in adequate numbers.”
Advanced Treatment Offering Hope
“In multiple myeloma, we’ve been blessed in the last twenty years with an extraordinary change in the natural history of the disease, by virtue of the introduction of novel agents–which are biologically targeted, biologically rational approaches to treatment–that have really superseded the older approaches of chemotherapeutics,” Dr. Paul Richardson, Director of Clinical Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, previously told SurvivorNet.
Combination therapies and immunotherapies are also making a difference.
WATCH: Advancements In Multiple Myeloma Treatment Give Patients Added Hope
“We’ve seen dramatic changes continue, and I think that’s what’s been so exciting and been such a privilege to be part of the field — because these changes have led to further advances,” Dr. Paul Richardson, Director of Clinical Research at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute told SurvivorNet.
With current advancements, the average length of life with multiple myeloma has become four times what it was just two decades ago.
“It’s been such a wonderful thing to see them deal with their disease, go into remission, and enjoy survivorship of 10, 15, and even 20 years–something which, not so long ago, would have been unheard of,” Dr. Richardson said.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you are facing a multiple myeloma diagnosis, you may be interested in learning about what types of treatment may be best for you. Here are some questions to help you begin the conversation with your doctor:
- What are my treatment options?
- What are the possible side effects of your recommended treatment?
- Who will be part of my healthcare team, and what does each member do?
- Can you refer me to a social worker or psychologist who can help me cope with my diagnosis?
The Importance of Getting a Second Opinion
After receiving a cancer diagnosis, it’s important to remember that you can and should talk to other cancer specialists about your disease.
“If I had any advice for you following a cancer diagnosis, it would be, first, to seek out multiple opinions as to the best care,” National Cancer Institute Chief of Surgery Steven Rosenberg told SurvivorNet in a previous interview. “Because finding a doctor up to the latest information is important.”
RELATED: Second (& Third) Opinions Matter When Deciding Between Surgery or Radiation
As we highlight in several areas of SurvivorNet, highly respected doctors sometimes disagree on the right course of treatment, and advances in genetics and immunotherapy are creating new options.
Also, in some instances, the specific course of treatment is not clear-cut. That’s even more why understanding your disease’s potential approaches is crucial.
At the National Cancer Institute, a patient referral service will “guide patients to the right group depending on their disease state so that they can gain access to these new experimental treatments,” Rosenberg says.
Cancer Research Legend Urges Patients to Get Multiple Opinions
Furthermore, getting another opinion may also help you avoid doctor biases. For example, some surgeons own radiation treatment centers. “So there may be a conflict of interest if you present to a surgeon recommending radiation because there is some ownership of that type of facility,” Dr. Jim Hu, director of robotic surgery at Weill Cornell Medical Center, tells SurvivorNet.
Other reasons to get a second opinion include:
- To see a doctor who has more experience treating your type of cancer
- You have a rare type of cancer
- There are several ways to treat your cancer
- You feel like your doctor isn’t listening to you or isn’t giving you sound advice
- You have trouble understanding your doctor
- You don’t like the treatment your doctor recommends or are worried about its possible side effects.
- Your insurance company wants you to get another medical opinion
- Your cancer isn’t improving on your current treatment
Be Pushy, Be Your Advocate, Says Leading Expert
The bottom line is that being proactive about your health could be life or death. Learn as much as possible from as many experts as possible so you know you did your best to take control of your health.
Contributing: SurvivorNet Staff
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