GREETINGS!
The December 9, 2024 meeting of the SAN DIEGO MULTIPLE MYELOMA SUPPORT GROUP will take place on Monday, December 9, 2024 at 6:00 pm.
We are looking forward to the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group Holiday Celebration on Monday, December 9, 2024. This in-person event at our regular meeting room at Sanford Consortium for Regenerative Medicine will be in place of a hybrid meeting. We will be planning to bring up Dr. Joseph Mikhael’s ASH Facebook Live with Dr. Joe at 7:30 PM to update us on advances in myeloma treatment from the 2024 American Society of Hematology meeting. We expect this evening to be an important opportunity to network with your fellow myeloma patients and caregivers as we all continue on our Myeloma Journeys.
Also, we are planning to bring in a light supper from The Kebab Shop, so we need those planning to join us for the Holiday Celebration to RSVP so we will have enough food. Please RSVP using this Eventbrite link https://www.eventbrite.com/e/1068080901729 .
Everyone is welcome at the Holiday Celebration. We would appreciate you donating $15 per person toward the cost of your food, if you are able to do so. No one should let the cost of food prevent you from joining us. If you are able to make a larger donation, that would also be greatly appreciated. We will collect donations at the Holiday Celebration and send them to International Myeloma Foundation. The International Myeloma Foundation will provide Tax Receipt letters for donations. Your donation can be directed to support the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group, to the work of the International Myeloma Foundation, or split between them by making an appropriate notation in the Memo field of your check. Cash donations will be credited to the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group account. Donations by check without a notation will be credited to the International Myeloma Foundation for their work in myeloma research, and myeloma patient education and support. The International Myeloma Foundation also accepts online donations at www.myeloma.org. Please be generous if you are able to do so.
A flyer with directions is attached.
One of our long term members, Mark Silke, has created the Monday Meeting Contact List for our group. The list provides contact information (email addresses and phone numbers) for myeloma patients and caregivers to enable them to contact each other about myeloma related matters. The list is separate from the roster maintained by our Leaders, with participation voluntary for those who choose to provide their contact information to Mark. The list is to be used only for myeloma related matters and is not to be used for commercial or other non-myeloma related purposes. Those who are interested in joining the list can do so by contacting Mark at [email protected]. The last time Mark updated the list was July 15, 2024. We appreciate Mark’s work in maintaining this list.
We need volunteers to bring refreshments to future meetings. Please contact us if you can help us by emailing us and advising us of which months in the future you can do so. We can reimburse you for the cost of the refreshments. Thank you for all your help!
On an urgent note, we continue to be in dire need of new leadership stepping up to keep the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group going. Kelly Cox has retired from the IMF. We greatly appreciate the assistance of Leslie Crews and members of her lab staff who have made it possible for us to be able to transition to hybrid meetings. The ability to continue hybrid meetings, or any meetings, is seriously in doubt unless we get some people to step into leadership roles in place of Tom Tucker. Please consider volunteering and help us now!
OTHER ITEMS:
Diverse Research Now, a nonprofit organization formed to help remedy the lack of diversity in clinal trials, in partnership with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation, a nonprofit to discover and advance a cure for each and every multiple myeloma patient, is sponsoring a free “Chow and Chat event” on December 6, 2024 at its local headquarters at 4101 University Ave San Diego, California. The event starts at 6:00 p.m. You may register on line or just come in person. A representative of our support group will attend.
Triage Cancer has some important information for multiple myeloma patients at www.triagecancer.org.
The International Myeloma Foundation is sponsoring an IMWG conference series. The topic is “Making Sense of Treatment” to be held on line on December 18, 2024. Visit the foundation’s website at myeloma.org to register and for more information.
We hope to see you in person.
Judy and Jack