Marty's Multiple Myeloma Journey

Hi, I'm Meghan, and this fundraiser is to help my family navigate the aftermath of my husband's cancer diagnosis and treatment over the past 10 months (and ongoing).

Marty was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in October 2022. It is a cancer of the blood (plasma specifically). Here's more about it if you are interested: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/multiple-myeloma/symptoms-causes/syc-20353378. In August, he had begun to experience back pain that became so severe he couldn't stand or walk without a cane. The doctors in our local clinic gave him muscle relaxers and then referred him to physical therapy when it didn't get better. During that time, unbeknownst to us, Marty's kidneys were failing, and he developed hypercalcemia which caused him to be sleepy all the time, have memory loss, and his organs began to shut down.

October 13th, I took him to the emergency room in Lincoln, NE and they immediately drew blood, ordered CTs and MRIs of his spine and head, and ultimately saved his life by getting his calcium levels down (they were twice what they should have been). He was also diagnosed with stage III, ultra-high risk, aggressive myeloma (meaning it was forming tumors outside of the bone marrow and had several chromosomal mutations). The doctor noted that this is an odd case because they don't normally see myeloma in people Marty's age (he said he had it 30 years too early), and it is normally a slow-growing cancer, but he didn't think Marty had it for more than 18 months.

Marty went through six rounds of chemotherapy (pills and shots), had an emergency appendectomy, had his right hip replaced because it broke due to bone lesions, and finally had a stem cell transplant in April 2023. In July, we were told Marty had a complete response to the transplant, and the multiple myeloma is not currently active. There is no cure for myeloma though, so he is on maintenance medicine for the rest of his life, and, so far, there is no treatment for the four compression fractures in his back that started this whole medical journey one year ago.

Not many people know that until Marty's diagnosis, we were trying for baby #3, and in an instant, we went from trying to signing a piece of paper agreeing we wouldn't have children because of the medication Marty had to take, and will continue to take, to keep the myeloma at bay. We have two kids, 6 and 4, and we love them so much, but this has been a traumatic year for them as well.

Marty will never be able to work the jobs he did before, and may never be well enough to work full-time again if they are unable to fix his back. His pain level is constantly at a 6 out of 10 even with pain medicine. We've had to move my son from his upstairs bedroom because he was scared to be alone at night since his dad can't come up and comfort him anymore because stairs are too hard for Marty. We also need a larger vehicle because Marty has to lean back so far to be comfortable sitting that neither kid is comfortable sitting behind him.

All this to say, is that after this year, we still need help. We have continuing medical bills and a lot of needs that we can't meet on our own. I work full-time and have an amazing, supportive job, but there is only so much I can do on my own. ANY ASSISTANCE is appreciated. ❤

You can see our full journey on Facebook .