Moving forward with myeloma
At the start of 2023, a cancer diagnosis was the last thing on Mark’s mind. The 48-year-old was a busy dad to two teenagers, living in Lower Hutt and working for a bank.
Then he started to feel unwell. He was constantly nauseous and struggling to eat. Thinking it might be a stomach issue, Mark went to see his GP, who prescribed an antacid and arranged some blood tests. When the results showed that his kidney function had dropped, he was referred to a specialist at Wellington Hospital for more tests.
“That’s when they found the myeloma,” he says. “I can vividly remember. It was the afternoon, and I was lying on my bed with my wife next to me. I got a call from the GP, who said, ‘You’ve been diagnosed with cancer, get yourself down to the hospital.’”
Mark describes that initial period after his diagnosis as a whirlwind. “You’re just reacting to what’s coming, and you’re not really processing it.”
Wanting to know more about his diagnosis, he turned to the internet for answers. “You start reading about it online, and then you freak out, because it’s sort of saying you’ve got five years to live and it’s not curable. That’s a bit scary.”
Mark began treatment with CyBorD, with doctors hopeful that as the cancer responded to treatment, his kidneys would start to recover. But things didn’t go as expected.
“Mine actually went the other way, and they got worse,” he says. “So then I ended up on dialysis. I was in there two or three times a week for five hours.”
Facing the possibility of long-term dialysis was overwhelming. “I was really scared,” he admits, “because they had said to me that once you’re on dialysis, you probably won’t come off it.”
During this time, Nicki from Blood Cancer NZ stayed in close contact. She regularly called to check in on him throughout his treatment – something Mark says meant a lot.
After six months, there was finally some good news. Mark’s kidneys had recovered to the point where he didn’t need dialysis anymore.
But even as his physical health improved, the side effects of treatment were taking their toll. “One of the chemo drugs made me really nauseous and spaced me out a bit, so I couldn’t concentrate at work,” he says. “And the steroids were horrible because you just can’t sleep, so I’d be up for like 48 hours. That was pretty hard to deal with.”
When his CyBorD treatment ended, Mark was glad to have it behind him and felt ready for the next big step – a stem cell transplant. “I’d kind of geared myself up a bit for that,” he says, “because everyone says it’s really challenging. So I went in prepared, but it all went to plan – I think I was lucky.”
He took several months off to recover, returning to work in February. “Even though I was excited, that was really hard. I’d battled the physical stuff in 2023, but 2024 was more of a mental battle.”
Shifting from survival mode back into everyday life brought unexpected emotions. “I was angry that I’d got cancer and wondered why it had happened to me. That was actually surprisingly difficult,” he says.
One work meeting became a turning point. “I got really angry, to the point where I was almost shaking, and I thought, ‘Wow. This is extreme.’”
Recognising that he needed help, Mark reached back out to Nicki at Blood Cancer NZ. “She was really great. She just sat with me, and we had a nice chat, and then she put me on to a psychologist.”
Blood Cancer NZ funded three counselling sessions, and Mark decided to continue with a few more on his own. The support helped him find his footing again. “I’d slipped into depression, and that just helped me rebalance.”
“I’m really thankful for Nicki,” says Mark. “I would recommend that anyone who has myeloma reach out to the team and seek support. Even if you don’t need it now, you may need it in the future.”
Today, Mark is in remission and is focused on moving forward. “Having myeloma has given me an appreciation of life. I’m more social now – it’s definitely influenced me to get out in the community and be more active with my friends and family.”
He’s also thrown himself into something he always wanted to do – studying for an MBA. “I think the cancer kind of made me go, ‘Right, time to get this done.’”
The possibility of relapse is always at the back of his mind, but Mark doesn’t let it dominate his life. “There’s an inkling that the cancer will return at some stage, and what’s that gonna look like? But it’s not something that I think about every day.”
For now, he’s focused on what really matters – his family, his health, and making the most of life.
“Overall, things are really positive. Life is great.”
