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In 2015, Valarie Traynham visited her primary care physician (PCP) after weeks of intense exhaustion, serious nosebleeds, back pain and flu-like infections. <\/p>\n
Her PCP noted high protein levels in Traynham\u2019s bloodwork and referred her to a hematologist-oncologist<\/a>, a doctor who treats cancers of the blood. Seeing a hematologist didn\u2019t alarm Traynham, who\u2019d suffered from anemia, but she didn\u2019t grasp until later that the doctor was also an oncologist, and her condition might be more serious than she thought.<\/p>\n Traynham, then 42, received more tests, including full body X-rays and a bone marrow biopsy that led to her being diagnosed with multiple myeloma<\/a>, a disease she\u2019d never heard of. She was told to start treatment immediately. <\/p>\n After three sessions, Traynham became so sick she needed a wheelchair to take her from the car to the facility. She felt something wasn\u2019t right, and her aunt, a breast cancer survivor, suggested she visit a specialist.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was diagnosed with myeloma at a local community center, I wasn’t going to get a second opinion because I just wanted to start treatment and get rid of it,\u201d Traynham said. \u201cI remember the doctor saying, \u2018You can go if that\u2019s what you want to do, but they\u2019re going to tell you the same thing I\u2019m telling you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Traynham went anyway, a decision that might have saved her life. It also started her path to becoming an advocate for multiple myeloma awareness and education in the Black community. <\/p>\n What is multiple myeloma? <\/p>\n<\/h3>\n Multiple myeloma is the second most common blood cancer in the U.S. African Americans and Hispanic people are disproportionately affected by the disease. African Americans represent 20% of all multiple myeloma patients<\/a>, even though they make up just 14% of the population. While some environmental factors can increase the risk of multiple myeloma, the disease has a link to MGUS<\/a>, a blood condition that is a risk factor for cancer and is found more commonly in Africans and African Americans. Hispanic people also get multiple myeloma at higher rates than non-Hispanic white people and are typically diagnosed at a younger age, according to the International Myeloma Foundation.<\/p>\n African American patients are also twice as likely to die<\/a> from multiple myeloma than white patients, but a 2024 study<\/a> found they were just as likely as white patients to survive when they had equal access to care and treatment. <\/p>\n \u201cI usually divide the disparities in mortality rates into two categories related to health in general and then specific to multiple myeloma,\u201d said Joseph Mikhael, M.D.<\/a>, medical advisor for the International Myeloma Foundation and an expert in multiple myeloma disparities. \u201cFor general health, these disparities include systemic racism, the healthcare system and social determinants of health heavily influenced by socioeconomic effects. Myeloma-specific reasons are primarily delayed diagnosis and reduced access to key therapies.\u201d <\/p>\n Mikhael said the average myeloma patient, regardless of racial background, has a 3\u20136 month delay in diagnosis and visits a primary care clinician an average of three times with symptoms before getting the right diagnosis. For Black and Hispanic patients, he said the delay averages 3\u20136 months longer, often due to lack of access to primary care, mistrust in the healthcare system and insurance restrictions to testing.<\/p>\n Other health conditions that are more common in Black and Hispanic patients can mimic multiple myeloma symptoms, leading to a delayed diagnosis. Multiple myeloma symptoms like <\/strong>bone pain, fatigue, anemia and kidney dysfunction are also common symptoms of diabetes<\/a>, arthritis and chronic kidney disease. Black and Hispanic patients also can have more pre-existing comorbidities. For example, obesity is a risk factor for multiple myeloma<\/a>, and almost half of all Black Americans are living with obesity<\/a>. <\/p>\n Black and Hispanic patients are less likely to receive therapies that improve survival rates, such as combination drug therapies, stem cell transplants and T-cell therapies<\/a>. Participation in clinical trials with novel and evolving therapies is also low, often due to a lack of information and education about trials, limited access to academic centers and facilities offering specialized treatment, and less caregiving support during the process. African Americans represent just 8% of cancer clinical trial participants. Lack of access isn\u2019t always financial. Patients living in rural areas or relying on community health settings can face treatment delays, as Traynham did despite being able to drive from her home in Aurora, Illinois, to a specialist in Chicago. <\/p>\n Once she visited the myeloma specialist, she recognized how different the care was from her former clinician, who treated all forms of cancer. The myeloma specialist told Traynham he didn\u2019t know why she was given an older regimen when more advanced treatments existed. The importance of community voices<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/h3>\n Having support from her aunt and her friend, a cancer survivor as well, helped convince Traynham of the importance of seeking additional care. That\u2019s why she\u2019s now a vocal advocate for Black patients living with multiple myeloma, leading support groups and discussing the importance of seeing specialists, getting second opinions after diagnosis and joining clinical research trials.<\/p>\n \u201cThere weren’t a lot of Black people talking and Black faces represented when I was looking for support, even though we\u2019re disproportionately affected by multiple myeloma,\u201d she said. \u201cI don’t want patients to have to go through what I experienced, thinking you’re alone and not knowing there are different treatment options and that you have a voice in your care. Cancer stole a lot from me, so I decided I wasn\u2019t going to be quiet about this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n
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