Early last September my Grandad (who I called Gang-Gang) was diagnosed with Myeloma.  He suffered great pain but fought as hard as he could. However, the horrible cancer sadly took away my Gang-Gang’s life on Wednesday 13^th October 2021, two weeks before his 84th birthday.

For those who are unaware, Myeloma is a type of blood cancer that develops from cells in the bone marrow called plasma cells. Although patients with Myeloma can be treated and can live for several years after diagnosis, this can only take place if Myeloma is caught in the early stages. This was not the case with my Gang-Gang.  

Gang-Gang had started suffering from a bad back in March 2021. He had been back and forth from the doctors who prescribed him painkillers to help with the pain, however, these did not work. General blood tests were also carried out. We were all so worried about him as the pain was stopping him from doing things he loved, from going on days out to the Cotswolds, to gardening in his beautiful garden. He began to lose his appetite, suffered from nausea and he often had a dry mouth and felt thirsty. All these factors resulted in him losing weight. We knew there was a problem. Gang-Gang went back to the hospital and had a CT scan which proposed that there was nothing wrong. However, he then had an MRI which showed he had 3 fractures in his spine. This rang alarm bells in the doctor’s mind that there may be something more sinister going on in Gang-Gang’s body. He had further blood tests which then came back with the horrible news that my Gang-Gang had Myeloma. 

In memory of my Gang-Gang, I am taking part in the Myeloma UK Skydive on Saturday 3^rd September in Brackley, to help raise money for the continuing research and diagnosis of this horrible disease.