Mother, Wife, Scientist, Researcher, and More

Lisa Hatfield is a self-described “mom, a wife, a scientist, a researcher, a dark chocolate and book lover, and a multiple myeloma patient.”

Like many myeloma patients, Lisa’s initial diagnosis was almost missed. Lisa shares, “After experiencing unusual and progressively worsening hip pain for almost two years, my doctor uttered the word that changed the story of my life: ‘cancer.’”

Finding a Plasmacytoma 

Lisa had a large plasmacytoma in her spine. In myeloma, a plasmacytoma is a single tumor mass made up of abnormal plasma cells. These plasmacytomas cluster in one area instead of spreading throughout the bone marrow. There are two types of plasmacytomas in multiple myeloma: solitary bone plasmacytoma that occurs can occur within the bone or extramedullary plasmacytoma that occurs in the soft tissue. For Lisa, she had a solitary plasmacytoma. 

Immediately two hours after her MRI, Lisa received a phone call from her doctor. She recalls being in “Dr. Mike’s office” on May 1, 2018, and feeling “shocked and numb.”

Lisa continued, “The following two weeks were a blur, a whirlwind of activity, trying to figure out what kind of cancer I was up against, and also how to treat my spine damage and the potential paralyzation that would've been caused by spinal cord compression. During that time, we decided among all the chaos and fear and uncertainty, we made a decision that has turned out to be the best and most important decision of my cancer journey: to seek an expert opinion from a specialist who sees only myeloma patients, and a neurosurgeon who sees oncology patients requiring emergency surgery for spine stabilization due to damage caused by cancer.”

A Mother's Day Like No Other

By Sunday, May 13, 2018, nearly two weeks after her MRI, Lisa was outfitted in a back brace that rested on her hips that kept her spine completely erect and her head in place. She and her husband boarded a plane to Houston to visit the MD Anderson Cancer Center at the University of Texas—the largest cancer center in the world. 

Compounding the upheaval of the experience, May 13, 2018, also happened to be Mother’s Day. While Lisa was receiving treatment, her children—who were in middle school and high school—were googling multiple myeloma. Lisa said, “What they found was bleak,” making that Mother’s Day, the “worst day” in Lisa’s life.

On board the flight to Houston, Lisa was in excruciating pain. Yet, the heartache she felt from her youngest daughter asking her “not to die while she was away,” was a pain that was even more intense and wearing.

Lisa said, “I could not protect our daughters from the fear of losing their mother; I could only promise that I was not planning on dying while away.”

Obtaining Treatment and Finding Hope

Fortunately, the team at MD Anderson worked closely—one specialist often conferring with another. Lisa shares, “I endured difficult and painful radiation on the impinging tumor and was whisked into a five-plus hour surgery to stabilize my spine after the last radiation session. After five days of recovery in the hospital and a few nights at a nearby hotel, we flew home.”

Thrilled at her ability to walk— “albeit with a walker and only five steps at a time,” Lisa returned to be her children one month after a whirlwind of treatment. She learned that the complexity of her treatment and surgery would require lifelong follow-up. Her team at MD Anderson prescribed her “chemo cocktail,” and it was administered to her in her hometown of Boise, Idaho. 

Advocating for Her Beliefs

While Lisa’s treatment did restore her abilities, she emphasizes that the “chemo, along with regular visits to both MD Anderson and the Mayo Hospital in Phoenix has taken a toll.”

In this video created as part of the first course of the Legislative Advocacy Master Class (LAMC)*, Lisa advocates for expanded telehealth services for cancer patients. She points out, “The stress of this process is not just inconvenient; it is debilitating. It erodes the emotional and physical strength that patients need to focus on our fight against cancer.”

In the video, Lisa enumerates the number of issues that cancer patients face by traveling for healthcare access, including “the layers of stress, organizing logistics, rearranging work schedules,” as well as the “financial toll” of “missed paychecks, changing childcare plans,” and more.” Simply put, Lisa says, “Every hour spent on the road or in an airport is time stolen from what truly matters.”

This Myeloma Action Month (MAM (https://myelomaactionmonth.org)), the IMF advocates for patients like Lisa who can hopefully receive access to care closer to home, so they can regain and preserve those precious moments with their loved ones.

Visit the MAM website (https://myelomaactionmonth.org)and learn how you, too, can raise myeloma awareness and take action to impact the lives of myeloma patients around the world.

*(EDITOR’S NOTE: The Legislative Advocacy Master Class is a 10-week immersive advocacy training course, and a combined collaboration between the International Myeloma Foundation and Patients Rising—"a leading grassroots patient advocacy organization seeking comprehensive policy solutions that puts the patient experience at the forefront of addressing America’s biggest healthcare challenges.” The stories in this blog series were taken from the now-completed first class, where participants submitted their stories as final projects to graduate from the course. The LAMC is an ongoing effort to train advocates for the IMF to tell their stories, write a letter to Congress, and make an impact in changing healthcare laws and policies. A second class will begin on the first week of March 2025. More details for upcoming LAMC classes will become available soon. If you have questions or inquiries, or would like to sign up for the LAMC, please email Michael Riotto at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]).)