I recently enjoyed having an early morning breakfast with a good friend and fellow multiple myeloma patient. Like me, he was diagnosed in his late 40s, has young children, has a challenging career, and is currently in remission.

He half-jokingly shared that while the doctors have gotten his cancer into remission, he can’t quite figure out how to make myeloma fit in with the rest of his life.

“Sean, do you honestly think that it’s possible to be happy and …

Dr. Kenneth Anderson, a world-renowned myeloma spe­cialist, physician and re­searcher at Dana-Farber Cancer In­sti­tute, and Kraft Family Pro­fessor at Harvard Medical School, spoke with The Myeloma Beacon about his ap­proach to treating mul­ti­ple myeloma patients.

This article is the sec­ond part of a two-part series based on The Myeloma Beacon’s interview with Dr. Anderson.  It will cover Dr. Anderson’s thoughts on where myeloma treat­ment is headed in the com­ing years.  For more in­­for­ma­tion on Dr. Anderson’s cur­rent ap­proach to treating …

The number of stem cells harvested from multiple myeloma patients during the first day of collection predicts the success of the entire collection procedure, according to a recent study.  Those patients with higher stem cell counts on the first day of collection are more likely to collect enough stem cells for transplantation.

The authors of the study suggested that patients with very low counts of blood forming stem cells on day one of collection should be treated with Mozobil …

Last week I shared a list of traits long-lived multiple myeloma survivors—those of us fortunate enough to have lived ten years or longer after our myeloma became active—tend to have in common.  

The one overriding trait the large majority of long-lived multiple myeloma survivors share is determination and focus. 

That is as close to a magic bullet as I can find.  Living with multiple myeloma isn’t easy.  In order to stay alive, we need to be determined to do …

This article is the second in a five-part series about emerging vaccines for multiple myeloma.  It provides an introduction to the various types of vaccines that are currently under development for myeloma.  The first article in the series provided an introduction to the concept of a myeloma vaccine. The third article describes vaccines for which clinical trials have been completed, the fourth article focuses on ongoing vaccine research, and the fifth article tells the story of …

Someone recently joked that films should come with warning labels, such as “Beware, this movie features people with cancer who die in the end.” Sometimes light humorous entertainment is the best medicine.

While I was recovering from treatments, the sofa, television, and DVD’s became my refuge. Movies light up the mind with imagery and ideas that can take you away from pain and worry, but I usually hope for more than simple escape—an engaging story. I began to notice all …

Dr. Kenneth Anderson is a multiple myeloma thought leader, physician and researcher at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he is Director of the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center.  He also is the Kraft Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

Dr. Anderson's research has played a key role in the development of several new multiple myeloma drugs and, more broadly, the significant improvement in treatment outcomes for myeloma patients that has occurred over the past 10 to 15 years.

In an interview …