Mindy Kupchin, RN

Panelists discuss how a patient with multiple myeloma initially experienced severe fatigue, hair loss, swelling from kidney dysfunction, and overwhelming pain before being misdiagnosed with lupus, ultimately requiring emergency care where blood work and bone marrow biopsy confirmed both multiple myeloma and amyloidosis, leading to successful treatment with chemotherapy followed by stem cell transplant that achieved 5.5 years of remission monitored through regular blood draws tracking  light chain levels.

Panelists discuss how multiple myeloma is a rare blood cancer affecting plasma cells that have gone rogue, causing symptoms like fatigue, kidney dysfunction, and bone pain, with approximately 36,000 new cases diagnosed annually in the US, primarily affecting older patients around 60 to 65 years of age. Although multiple myeloma is highly treatable with great therapy options available, the disease often relapses and requires aggressive early treatment approaches, including emerging immunotherapies that may help cure a larger fraction of patients in the future.