Meet Graham. Graham was working as a training facilitator in aged care, when he began to experience chronic back pain and excruciating sciatica. Graham is a registered nurse and was a paramedic for 20 years. Because of this medical background, he knew when received the MRI scans taken of his back, that what he saw on the images was serious.

Graham endured radiation, chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. It has been almost two years since he has been all clear of his multiple however unlike other cancers, Graham’s disease is incurable and could come back at any time. This is what’s called living with cancer.

If there was one thing cancer could never take away from Graham, it’s his sense of humour. He uses humour to deal with his multiple myeloma and even named the lump to be remove from his back Achmed, because the doctors were about to inflict “nuclear and chemical warfare on it”. If there’s one thing Graham doesn’t joke about however, it’s his gratitude in knowing that although his cancer is incurable, he is still able to live with his disease for many, many years to come.

For almost a month now, we have all been incorporating precautions into our daily routines such as, washing our hands and avoiding large groups; however, these are things Graham needs to do on a daily basis. Because of his multiple myeloma, Graham has a compromised immune system and he is certain that it won’t be the cancer that kills him, it will be an infection his body is unable to fight. So, when you feel like you’re getting fed up with isolating, think of the good you are doing for vulnerable, immunocompromised people like Graham by staying home.

Information about living with blood cancer.

Article from The Age, Melbourne about living with multiple myeloma amidst the Coronavirus pandemic. 

Click here if you would like to look at the resources on the Cancer Council website.

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