“What is multiple myeloma?” Those were my words after the doctor’s review of my lab results for a routine and random high blood pressure exam in November 2008.
I had always been healthy, had never been in the hospital, never even broken a bone. I was in great shape: a 46-year-old high school biology teacher, head softball and volleyball coach, with a beautiful young family including two teenage daughters. I got not only cancer, but an incurable form of cancer. The diagnosis was confirmed the following week by a bone marrow biopsy. My marrow was 83 percent cancer cells, yet I showed no typical symptoms such as weak or breaking bones. I was extremely anemic, but it was not preventing me from coaching. I had no clue I was sick.