I learned a long time ago never to say, “Nothing can be worse than this.” After my son passed away many years ago, someone said those words to me, and I immediately responded, “Don’t say that.”
Over 65 years of life, I’ve walked through many difficult seasons, and what I know for certain is this — in every single one, God has been with me, and He has seen me through. But when I got married in February 2023, life felt full again — full of joy, full of plans, full of promise. At my niece’s wedding, while line dancing, I felt a sudden “pop” in my rib. I never imagined that moment would lead to a diagnosis of multiple myeloma (MM), just three months after marrying my sweet husband, Ray.
I had been enjoying retirement after working since I was 14. I had survived shingles in 2020 and an emergency appendectomy that same year. I had been savoring time with my five beautiful grandchildren. Then came 2023, a year I expected to spend traveling and building new memories with the love of my life. Instead, pain, muscle spasms, compression fractures, and rib fractures brought everything to a halt.
That little “pop” led to spasms that sent me to Urgent Care, where the radiologist saw lytic lesions that suggested MM. I already knew what MM was. I had lost a staff member to it years before. Looking back, I realized I had been tired and hurting for a long time but had pushed through it, as I always do. My pain tolerance is high, but this was beyond anything I’d ever known. I thought nothing could hurt worse than labor . . . then shingles came. And then cancer said, “Let me show you what pain really is.”
Treatments began:
• injections
• radiation
• two hospital stays due to uncontrolled pain
• vomiting
• kyphoplasty
• neuropathy
• medications I never imagined taking
• my skin shedding like a snake’s
And finally, a stem cell transplant on December 29, 2023.
In June 2024, I got the call: I am MRD — and still MRD — over a year later. God is great!
I believe this journey was never just about me. I believe God will receive glory from my testimony, and that I will be able to comfort others just as He has comforted me. Every hardship in my life has become part of my ministry of encouragement. I refuse to let difficulty steal my hope or my faith. They may say MM is incurable, but I know this — nothing is too hard for God. If He did it before, He can do it again.
What I want others facing multiple myeloma to know:
• Do not claim the disease. You may have been diagnosed with cancer, but it does not own you.
• Ask questions. Your myeloma specialist is there to serve you. Advocate for yourself — but if you can’t, let someone who loves you do it.
• Use palliative care. They understand how to support your comfort and quality of life.
• Hold onto hope. Even on the hardest days.
• Let others help you. You don’t have to be strong alone.
• Keep the faith. You are never alone.
• Feel your feelings. Cry, scream, get angry, but keep moving and keep living.
• Rest without guilt. This disease is demanding. Caring for yourself is not laziness, it’s wisdom.
• Move gently. Fresh air and slow walks can do wonders.
• Seek emotional support. Therapy for cancer patients is powerful and necessary.
• You are stronger than you may think.
• Above all, trust God.
Dawn
multiple myeloma (MM)
