Multiple Myeloma - Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, Inc.

The cause I choose to highlight is the one that took my father's life - Multiple Myeloma. My father called me before Christmas 2007 asking me to come down and help him out. He had pulled some muscles in his chest and was having a hard time getting anything done becuase he was sore. I told him that I was too busy and we still had plenty to do before Christmas to get ready for everything. At this point, I have three boys, 11, 5, and 2. My mother-in-laws birthday is December 23rd. We always celebrate Chrismas Eve with my Mom and my family. Christmas morning we go to my in-laws and celebrate with them. That night we go to my Dad's and celebrate with him. I told him I would help him then but I had to be back on the 27th becuase that is my wife's birthday.

My Dad calls me Christmas morning and I thinking it is to tell me that he is wishing us a Merry Christmas, but that is not how that phone call went. He told me that they took him to the hospital in Bowling Green becuase it was a little closer to Leitchfield than Louisville. His Mom and sister live in Bowling Green. Long story short, he never makes it out of the hospital. We find out that the pulled muscles in his chest were not pulled muscles but broken ribs from where the cancer had eaten the bone. While he was in the hospital the cancer ate through his femur. He did get well enough to have surgery to fix his leg but he never fully recovered from that surgery and passed away on April 5, 2008.

Since his passing, there has been a lot of research and development in the treatment of Multiple Myeloma. There are now several different drugs that have been developed to treat the disease, and there are also several different clinical trials that are currently underway to test new treatments. The cause that I choose to support is the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. This organization is dedicated to finding a cure for Multiple Myeloma, and they are doing a lot of great work in this area. They are funding research, providing support for patients and their families, and raising awareness about the disease. I am proud to support this organization and their mission to find a cure for Multiple Myeloma.