Thunder Bay march to draw attention to incurable type of cancer raises nearly $3K

A march in Thunder Bay, Ont., to raise awareness about, and money for the research and treatment of, an incurable form of blood cancer raised nearly $3,000, organizers say.

The multiple myeloma march took place at the city's Marina Park on Sept. 28. The fundraising event raised nearly $2,700 and about 35 people took part, according to organizers.

Multiple myeloma is a blood cancer of the plasma cells. Thunder Bay resident Leah Vanderwey has been active in the city raising awareness about the disease after her husband Jerry was diagnosed with it about seven years ago. Rounds of treatment, including chemotherapy and stem cell transplants, have kept the illness at bay.

The disease is "never gone," Vanderwey told CBC Thunder Bay's Superior Morning in advance of the late-September march. "It's treatable in [that] it makes it quiet, it puts it in remission."

The onset of pulmonary embolisms, or blood clots in the lungs, in the midst of treatment pushed one of Jerry Vanderwey's stem cell treatments back, Leah Vanderwey said. The first stem cell treatment put the cancer in remission for about four years, she said.

"It was a glorious four years," she said but in the late summer of 2017, "it started creeping back."

Late in 2018, Jerry Vanderwey started on a national clinical trial treatment, Leah Vanderwey said, adding that "he's doing very well."

"It's actually very quiet," she said of the cancer. "In fact, it's probably been — it's quieter now I think than even the two stem cell transplants."

The money raised during the Thunder Bay march "help ensure that research continues to stay one step ahead of the disease and new drug therapies continue to be developed until a cure is found," according to a written release from Myeloma Canada, a charity that helps those diagnosed with the disease and raises money to support research.

"Thanks to major strides in research, not only has the quality of life of patients improved, but researchers are encouraged to say that life expectancies have more than doubled in the past 15 years and this is continuing on an upward trend."

The Thunder Bay march was one of 28 communities across Canada that held a fundraising and awareness-raising march this year, the organization said.

"I want people to know what myeloma is because when they hear multiple myeloma or myeloma, sometimes it gets confused with melanoma," Leah Vanderwey said.

"I think it's important because eight Canadians a day get diagnosed with multiple myeloma and my understanding is there's a fair number of people in northwestern Ontario that have been diagnosed," she continued.

"But it's so unknown."