Meet Lorelei Dalrymple, 8 Year Surviving Patient from Edmonton and Chair of the Myeloma Canada Patient Advisory Council

Meet Lorelei Dalrymple, 8 Year Surviving Patient from Edmonton and Chair of the Myeloma Canada Patient Advisory Council

“If I had one message to share, it would be to stay hopeful”

My name is Lorelei Dalrymple and I am Chair of the Myeloma Canada Patient Advisory Council (PAC). I grew up in the prairie provinces and finally settled in Edmonton 25 years ago. My career has been in the financial services sector, primarily with Servus Credit Union, where I continue to manage one of their support teams. I have two wonderful adult children who keep me smiling and a grand dog and two grand cats who keep me entertained. In addition to my volunteer work with Myeloma Canada, I am also active with the Myeloma Alberta Support Society (MASS) and enjoy nurturing my creative side with tole painting and cross-stitch.

I was finally diagnosed with myeloma in 2009, at the age of 47, after 4 years of struggling with fatigue and neuropathy. After a stem cell transplant, I enjoyed a very good remission with low-dose thalidomide maintenance. A little over 3 years later, the first relapse occurred and treatment was switched to lenalidomide. In 2015, I needed surgery to put a rod in one of my femurs to prevent it from breaking due to damage caused by the myeloma. Relapse number two came in the fall of 2016 and treatment was switched to pomalidomide, then ixazomib and daratumumab were added to the mix. While vacationing in Arizona in February 2017, I came down with pneumonia and treatment had to be suspended until I recovered and was restarted on pomalidomide and daratumumab. Although I have undergone numerous courses of radiation treatment due to lytic lesions and plasmacytomas, I am now in a very good remission and my hope is to maintain stable disease control.

My parents and children are very supportive, but it’s through the local support group and Myeloma Canada that I was finally able to gain a better understanding of this disease and how to self-advocate. I joined the board of the MASS in 2010 and subsequently got involved with Myeloma Canada. In 2014, I joined Myeloma Canada's newly formed PAC and was appointed as Chair in December 2016. Through Myeloma Canada, I have been able to connect with the myeloma community regionally, nationally and internationally. They have given me the opportunity to become an ambassador, advocate and educator. I am passionate about ensuring the voices of Canadian myeloma patients and caregivers are heard, and that the myeloma community continues to become knowledgeable and able to advocate for themselves and others. My continuing involvement with Myeloma Canada and MASS allows me to pursue these passions. If I had one message to share, it would be to stay hopeful. There are many exciting options available now that weren't there when I was first diagnosed.

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