- November 14, 2024
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Jenny Hack is on a mission to educate her neighbors in Palm Coast on the subject of Multiple Myeloma, an incurable cancer of bone marrow plasma cells.
To kick off this awareness campaign she approached the Palm Coast City Council and Mayor Jon Netts about proclaiming March as Multiple Myeloma Month, which they have done the past few years.
On March 12 the First Annual Multiple Myeloma Fundraiser was held at the Palm Coast Elks Club. The dinner/dance was sold out and raised $5,000. Donations can still be made to the International Myeloma Foundation, http://myeloma.org/Main.action.
Multiple Myeloma is one of the top reported cancers among the 9/11 first responders. There are eight different types of the disease making it a complex cancer with no one treatment.
Hack discovered she had the disease during a routine checkup in 2011.
“I was not concerned when I was told I was anemic,” Hack said. “I had no cancer in my family but I was soon diagnosed with Stage 3 Multiple Myeloma involving 70 % of my plasma cells, with abnormal chromosomes and was given one year to live. I may have had it for 10 years.”
Normal protocol has always been a bone marrow transplant, which is a treatment, not a cure. A successful transplant can extend life by years. Most patients will face relapse.
Hack entered into a clinical trial and within a short time was in remission for almost three years. After relapsing she participated in a second trial and was told she is in remission once again.
“I am very proud to say that these two clinical trials resulted in the drugs being FDA approved last November,” Hack said. “The good news now is, due to ongoing research though clinical trials, we have more options and new drugs are being developed every year; not just for multiple myeloma but for other cancers as well. “
