Dear community...

Martine Elias, Executive Director

Hi everyone,

Everywhere we turn these days, there’s news about Coronavirus COVID-19. We’re living in a day and age where we can share information in a blink of an eye in an effort to keep one another safe and healthy.

No other time in history has a pandemic virus become viral in the sense of being able to learn, communicate and immobilize for the greater good.

As a community and nation, we’re being socially responsible so we can flatten the curve and curtail the spread of COVID-19. Each province is taking its own specific measures to safeguard their population. If we all abide by these proactive measures, look out for one another and ourselves, we’ll ride this out and hopefully reduce the virus’ reach and impact. We must practice social distancing for everyone’s well-being.

As you probably have seen from our message sent out last week, we’re doing our part to flatten the curve and keep our community safe and healthy. For the time being, the team at Myeloma Canada is working remote, we’ve postponed or cancelled in-person events like our Meet & Greets, InfoSessions and National Conference, and travel has been stopped. We were one of the first patient organizations to adopt these measures, and our motivation is always to be as proactive as possible and protect our community and loved ones . These are small steps toward making a big impact, and rest-assured, they’re temporary! As soon as our governments and health agencies advise that we are over the hump, our in-person community and national events will be back.

In the meantime, we’re hard at work to create programs and tools for you that empower and help you better understand and best manage your myeloma.

With respect to COVID-19, we have taken the following initiatives:

We’ve set up a webinar to address specific myeloma and COVID-19 related-concerns. The webinar will be hosted by Dr Brian G.M. Durie (Hematologist/Oncologist, Cedars-Sinai Outpatient Cancer Center Chairman, International Myeloma Foundation Board of Directors), as well as Dr Hira Mian (Hematologist at the Juravinski Cancer Centre in Ontario) and David McMullen (Interim Chair, Myeloma Canada Patient Advisory Council). Click here for more information.
Our website has been updated to include a specific COVID-19 section so that you have the most up-to-date information and links to resources at your fingertips;
We’ve provided support groups with the technology to host on-line meetings. Don’t forget, we have our Facebook ‘virtual’ support groups as well. Michelle Oana (moana@myeloma.ca ) can help you with joining if you need guidance.
We’re constantly looking into new ways to share information like virtual, on-line programs, and more.

And of course, we’re moving head-on with many non COVID-19 projects like providing you with alternatives for the National Conference, producing a new InfoGuide on Managing Pain & Fatigue, to name a few. Stay tuned for more to come on these initiatives.

Also in keeping with our mission, we’re continuing to raise awareness for myeloma with our ongoing Myeloma S*cks campaigns.

I’m thrilled to say that the impact of these has been tremendous. Our Myeloma Sucks awareness and giving campaigns have generated more visits to our website and sign-ups to our newsletter than any other of our campaigns before.

That means the word is getting out, people are learning what myeloma is, and we’re reaching more Canadians living with myeloma than ever.

Myeloma Sucks giving campaign

With respect to our Myeloma Socks program , we’ve sold more than 500 socks in less than 2 weeks! (We’re actually running out of inventory, so if you haven’t already, I suggest you order yours on-line! They’re warm and comfy, and perfect for this cocooning period we’re all going through!)

So, as you can see, we’re as focused as we’ve ever been on fulfilling our mission to improve the lives of all Canadians impacted by myeloma, while supporting research to find a cure. And we can only do this by fundraising. Giving programs and initiatives like Myeloma S*cks and Myeloma Socks are steps toward this end.

Myeloma Socks campaign

The world is in a state of flux right now, and we are all experiencing a collective new reality. But we're here for you and it’s very much business as usual for us; we’re planning and preparing for when we can resume our full in-person programming for you. And so, we need your continued support, and we appreciate it.

And remember, “Challenges are gifts that force us to search for a new center of gravity. Don't fight them. Just find a new way to stand.” ― Oprah Winfrey

Stay safe and healthy,

Martine