For the past few years, I’ve been blessed to attend ASH virtually as a Support Group Leader with the International Myeloma Foundation. My experience, since 2006, is in oncology nursing; I have led the virtual Mid-Atlantic Myeloma Information & Support Group, based in Baltimore, MD, for 6 years. Today, I co-lead “Living Well with High-Risk Myeloma,” a new special interest group, formed specifically to address the needs and concerns of those myeloma patients who have high-risk disease. Anyone who has attended ASH in the past, whether it be in-person or virtually, will tell you that the experience is INTENSE! There is an overwhelming amount of information being shared by myeloma experts from all over the world. Many times during the conference, there are multiple simultaneous sessions that you must choose from. That said, there’s just no way to be everywhere all the time when so much is being presented!
This year, I have begun to work with the IMF professionally as a Director of Support Groups. Now, I help to educationally support 52 of our over 160 Support Groups across the U.S. and beyond. I feel such an honor to be part of an organization where the patient is the center of ALL that we do.
Our goal is to empower all myeloma patients and care partners with hope. The International Myeloma Foundation began bringing Support Group Leaders to ASH many years ago. The Support Group Leaders, usually patients or care partners themselves, hear the latest research directly from the experts. We, at the IMF, are proud that patients and care partners can count on our website and resources to be timely, accurate, and robust. The Support Group Leaders that come to ASH with us every year blog, tweet, and post on social media about their experiences, the abstracts that caught their eye, the conversations that they had with this expert or that expert, or the research that they hear about that DIRECTLY affects their particular disease. By doing this, other myeloma patients and care partners receive timely and accurate information from ASH — by visiting our social media and reading our blogs.
This year, we’ve even further increased our focus! We want EVERY myeloma patient and care partner in the world to feel like they are at ASH themselves. We have a fantastic, dynamic team of Support Group Leaders and advisors attending this 65th annual ASH meeting and exposition, and we want to share the experience with you! We are planning on vlogging our “day in the life” during ASH, and blogging about our experiences, as well as sharing important research updates on X, Facebook, and other social media platforms. IMF’s Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Mikhael will also host us during a Facebook Live on Monday, December 11th at 7:00 p.m. Pacific Time, where we will be asking him questions about the things that we’ve learned at ASH.
We hope that you come and share in our ASH journey with us! Follow all of us on X, join us on our Facebook live on Monday night, and check out our blogs! We hope you learn, enjoy, and most importantly, feel empowered with HOPE!