The power of hope against a new multiple myeloma diagnosis

Multiple myeloma grabbed one last headline as we closed out Blood Cancer Awareness Month last week. On Sept. 29, Lady A singer Charles Kelley posted a video on Instagram to tell fans that he’s been diagnosed with the condition. He found out via blood tests after some “random rib fractures.”

Kelley and his wife are upbeat in the video. “I feel really hopeful. I really do,” Kelley said.

I’m not much of a country music fan, but when he talks about hope, Kelley is certainly singing my song.

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A positive approach

Kelley noted that treatments “have just come so far even in the past five years” and that “life expectancy just far exceeds what it used to be.”

It’s all true. Since 2021, we’ve seen approvals for chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies, bispecific antibody therapies, an antibody-drug conjugate, and a cereblon E3 ligase modulatory drug (CELMoD), along with combinations of other drugs. Take a look at the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation’s list of approved treatments and you’ll see the myeloma toolkit is now more like a tool chest, with so many choices!

Those choices contribute to longer lifespans for patients, exceeding 10 years, according to the International Myeloma Foundation. So Kelley’s hopefulness is not just based on wishful thinking.

‘I wanna keep working’

Many newly diagnosed patients worry about whether they can, or should, work through treatment. Especially if they’re young like Kelley, who is 45. That’s much younger than the statistically average myeloma patient.

Kelley said he wants to keep working. He told fans that Lady A will release a new album soon, and they have eight Christmas shows in December — and he wants to be there for it all.

“This first six months of treatment, I believe, is not gonna be too super-invasive,” he said in the video. “I think, physically, I will feel like myself. I’ll have tough days but, you know, I wanna keep working.”

I don’t think that’s unrealistic. While I spent eight months on medical leave, I did feel like myself during induction. The problem was a logistically intrusive treatment schedule at a time when remote work was not an option. I went back to the newsroom three months after my stem cell transplant and have kept working ever since.

The celebrity effect on cancer awareness

Earlier this year, I wrote about my “morbid” fascination with celebrity cancer cases. Then, I focused on our need for community — even with people we’ve never met.

But celebrities also bring a spotlight to cancer. Shirley Temple Black and Betty Ford did it for breast cancer in the early 1970s — a time when people rarely discussed breast cancer. The First Lady’s revelation is credited for a jump in breast cancer screenings, labeled “the Betty Ford blip.” Katie Couric got a colonoscopy on the “Today” show to encourage others to get screened.

I don’t expect Kelley’s news to generate an interest in myeloma screening. At least, not yet. The iStopMM study is still underway in Iceland to see if screening for myeloma precursors can help keep people from getting myeloma. But for now, universal screening for those precursors is not recommended.

I do hope Kelley’s myeloma journey will bring hope to other patients, though. He says he will give updates when it’s appropriate, and compared announcing his diagnosis to telling the world about his sobriety journey. “Just getting the stuff off your chest is so freeing, and it takes the power away from it a little bit,” he said. “It’s just another hurdle and … we’re gonna get through it.”

I believe that completely.

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