I’ve waited to post my “Pre-ASH blog” so that I was able to take some photos to give you a perspective of what ASH is like before the meeting.
First, we are grateful to the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) for initiating this program, the first to bring myeloma patients to ASH! I’ve lost track of how many years the IMF has been doing this, but at least since 2006, so 18 years of patient involvement at ASH!
This year’s program has been retitled to better reflect the focus of this program: “Myeloma Support Group Leader Voices.” Each year, the IMF ASH Support Group Leader Voices Team consists of leaders who have been engaged with educating, empowering, and leading their local or virtual myeloma support group, participating in IMF support group leader programs, meetings, and more! They are from all over the U.S.: some were recently diagnosed; others are long survivors and mentors. We strive to bring as many voices to this program each year to hear different perspectives, and for those leaders to be able to share within their own local communities as well as globally via social media and blogs.
#IMFASH23 Voices consisted of 8 leaders attending ASH in person, and 6 leaders attending virtually. We held pre-ASH orientation meetings and talked about the abstracts and how we could best “conquer and divide.” IMF Chairman of the Board and Chief Scientific Offier Dr. Brian G.M. Durie, IMF Chief Medical Officer Dr. Joseph Mikhael, and IMF InfoLine Advisor Teresa Miceli, RN, provided us with the myeloma oral and poster abstracts, education sessions, and daily educational session recommendations for leaders to attend. Each day, there were multiple “simultaneous presentations;” and on Monday, there were actually 7 simultaneous presentations for us to cover. Thankfully, with our in-person and virtual team, we were able to view live, virtually view, or replay most sessions!
Each year, I’m honored, humbled, and excited by the leaders who give of their time to attend ASH and share on a peer-to-peer basis. We learn from our doctors, nurses, and healthcare teams, but we learn differently from each other. Leaders were up before dawn, and typically, our days ended late in the evenings — with blogs, videos, and tweets happening in the short moments in between.
I share this with you so that when you read the leaders’ blogs, view the videos, and engage with social media, you’ll better appreciate their dedication. I don’t know how they do it, but they sure do it well and with passion!
Here are a few photos of Pre-ASH. I hope this helps you see a bit of the excitement and journey as I post my additional blogs and videos (vlogs).
