SUDBURY -- Help is now on the way for Sudbury area patients and caregivers living with multiple myeloma.

Patients being treated at the Northeast Cancer Centre have been working with Myeloma Canada to help start a support group, which would be the first of its kind in the Greater Sudbury area. One is already been organized for North Bay. 

According to Myeloma Canada, one in nine Canadians will be diagnosed with the disease every day. It’s the second most common form of blood cancer.

John Mackevicius was diagnosed with cancer in the fall of 2018. It was his family that helped to get the ball rolling.

“I was lucky, I was quite in tune with my body, my body wasn’t feeling quite right so I saw a couple of my family doctors who recommended I o see someone else, through that the process started and I ended up here,” he recounted.

Mackevicius, who had never heard of the cancer before, and his family started their research immediately as they began to determine their next steps.

It was his daughter Carly who began to look into the idea of starting a support group for those facing similar situations.

“When we found out it had worked its way into our family, we thought the most important part was to be there as a family, to support my dad through all of the ups and the downs, to be there through the good and the bad and to remind him even in the darkest of times we still had each other,” she said. 

Carly admits it was terrifying at first, trying to answer some of those unanswered questions.

“To be completely honest I had no idea, I had never even heard of it before so it was pretty scary just finding out in a short period of time that this is now a huge part of our lives,” she said. 

The first meeting of the support group is slated for this Saturday in Lively. 

Hematologist Dr. Satish Gopalakrishnan has seen a steady increase in the number of myeloma patients at this practice. 

“One of the most important things with the way cancer care is moving, not just myeloma but overall, is how patients and patient groups feel about treatment and what is important about life from their perspective,’ said Gopalakrishnan. “What we (doctors) tend to forget is what it means to patients in terms of quality of life.”

Gopalakrishnan says he was intrigued about the idea and will be speaking at their first meeting. He likes the idea of sharing best practices between families as they try to figure out what might be the best form of patient care that works for them. 

“Quality of life is paramount and from a doctor’s perspective we don’t get to go through what they go through,” he said. 

The doctor is hopeful this will give hope about what is happening on the horizon in terms of advancement in treatment. 

Gopalakrishnan says his role on Saturday will be helping people to deal with the disease and to answer any questions they might have. 

Myeloma Canada offers more information on what support groups are in place.