Myeloma specialist Dr. Ciara Freeman shares hope for the future of myeloma care, encouraging patients and care partners to stay informed, ask bold questions, and connect with a myeloma specialist for their care. Dr. Freeman also explains how clinical trials can make a real difference and why survival for people with myeloma continues to improve year after year.
Dr. Ciara Freeman is an Associate Member and Clinical Research Medical Director in the Department of Blood and Marrow Transplant and Cellular Immunotherapy at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, FL. Learn more about Dr. Freeman.
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Transcript
Laura Beth Ezzell:
What key takeaway would you like the audience to remember, and what fuels your hope for what’s ahead?
Dr. Ciara Freeman:
So, I think the most important thing for any patient with myeloma is to remember that you’re not alone, and although it might not seem as common a cancer as some of the other cancers that are out there, breast; there’s still a huge community. My patients and many patients that come to me are incredibly well-informed through initiatives like this one.
And there are a lot of patient support groups, patient advocacy groups where you can learn more and more. I think the most important thing for patients is to, number one, make sure that they’re connected with a center where there’s the latest and greatest things. They don’t have to get all their therapy there, but it’s good to have a touch point in a big center where they’ve got these trials open and accruing. It gives them access to something that they might not get in the community for some time, until it gets FDA approval.
Ask bold questions. I think that there’s some great information out there now, especially with the assistance of some of these AI technologies, to sort of decode what your doctor says and help you better understand what’s going on, because it’s not a straightforward disease. Sometimes it’s hard to get your head around the lab tests and what they mean.
And so, I think that there are a lot of great initiatives out there to help explain things. And bring those questions to your provider. Patients who go to major centers have improved survival. So, if you at least can connect with a center where they’ve got that expertise, where they’ve got a huge number of myeloma patients, the likelihood is you’ll get access to expertise and treatments that you might not get locally, because you can’t have them everywhere.
And so, I think that would be my major focus point. Empower yourself with information, and be hopeful, because the survival has been improving every single year that I’ve been in practice. And I don’t even know how to tell the patient now how long that they’ll be alive.
My goal is to make sure that every patient lives just as long as somebody who is the same age and sex as them, and doesn’t have myeloma. So, I think, yes, we can’t call it cured yet, but we’re definitely making great shapes to getting closer and closer with every day that goes by.
Laura Beth Ezzell:
Well, that’s a very hopeful note to leave our audience with today, Dr. Freeman. Thanks for taking time to join us.
Dr. Ciara Freeman:
It was a great pleasure. Thanks for having me.