Pat Killingsworth, a former social studies teacher and real estate agent from Wisconsin, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma three years ago. “You try to find meaning when you’re 51 years old and somebody says you have cancer and are going to die in three to four years,” said Killingsworth.

“What are you going to do with three to four years? I decided I wanted to write two or three books to help cancer patients. I wanted to help them speed up that learning curve so they could make better treatment decisions.”

Killingsworth was diagnosed with multiple myeloma after an MRI revealed multiple holes in his bones. “I didn’t even know [multiple myeloma] was cancer. The doctor had to tell me that it was cancer,” he said.

Killingsworth quickly gathered more information on multiple myeloma from the Internet and from friends and family who were in medicine.

Although Killingsworth was initially unfamiliar with multiple myeloma, he very much understood that the road to recovery would not be easy. Killingsworth’s wife, Pattie, was diagnosed with uterine and cervical cancers in 1997. Six years later she was also diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

“It had always been hard for me as a caregiver, and I had always wondered which was harder—to be the helpless caregiver or the one with the cancer. I soon discovered that it was harder being the one with the cancer.”

Following his diagnosis, Killingsworth visited a radiation oncologist and was treated with dexamethasone (Decadron) and radiation for lesions on his vertebrae. Although the dexamethasone relieved some of the pain, Killingsworth became very ill after two weeks of radiation.

“I was sick for 6 or 8 weeks,” he said. “Radiation made me really sick, and in combination with the steroids, I lost a bunch of weight. I had vertigo; I was too sick to eat, too sick to stand, too sick to lie down. It was the worst experience I’ve ever had in my life.”

Doctors soon placed Killingsworth on a combination regimen of Revlimid (lenalidomide) and dexamethasone, which was not a standard treatment option at the time. After about a year, he stopped taking dexamethasone, and he is currently on his 35th cycle of Revlimid, which, overall, has been successful. However, a recent abnormal M spike (a blood test that measures the amount of M protein in the blood) suggested that his myeloma might be starting to return.

After being diagnosed with myeloma, Killingsworth began to seek support from fellow patients by reading their blogs, but he soon grew frustrated with the inconsistency of their posts. Although he and his wife had maintained a cancer blog and virtual bookstore, appropriately named Help with Cancer, he soon started his own blog, Living with Multiple Myeloma, so that myeloma patients had a reliable place to look for support.

“I like to use my story to hopefully help other patients,” said Killingsworth. “I try not to idly talk about my situation, and I try to write from the perspective that this could help someone else or they could say, ‘Oh, that happened to me.’”

Killingsworth wanted to be able to help all multiple myeloma patients, and he knew that the average myeloma patient was in his or her mid-to-late 60s or 70s and not regularly using a computer. Therefore, he wrote a book about his experience, also titled Living with Multiple Myeloma, which was released in April 2009. Killingsworth is currently finishing up writer’s and editor’s notes for an updated version of his book, which should be released in late April or early May.

Killingsworth, who currently lives in Florida with his wife, also travels around the country to speak to support groups about his experience with myeloma.

His advice for newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma is: “You have to learn as much as you can, as soon as you can. But once you have a basic understanding, that’s when you have a lot of work to do. Then you go to a support group, talk to some other patients,” he advised. “Don’t jump to conclusions. Everybody jumps to conclusions, so they get a set path in their head way too early. A therapy plan or treatment might be the one that the doctor suggests, but there are many different directions to go in.”

Although he is relieved that new studies are continually extending the lifespan for multiple myeloma patients, he is still worried that he won’t accomplish everything in the time he has left.

“I was a Type-A guy, and I was always in a hurry before cancer. Now, oh my goodness. You’re not supposed to get stressed with cancer, and I’m always stressed because there’s so much to do. There are too many people to help,” said Killingsworth.

Killingsworth credits his diagnosis with multiple myeloma as making him a better person. “I’ve found a calling as a medical writer or journalist. This is pretty high drama. This is life or death stuff. I’m interested and want to help,” he said.

For more information on Pat Killingsworth, please see his blog, “Living with Multiple Myeloma.” His book is also available for sale at the Help with Cancer virtual bookstore.