By NATALIE GALLENTI
WHEN Peter Marks collapsed on his kitchen floor in 2009 he was unaware that his life was in grave danger.
The Melton resident was rushed to the emergency department at Sunshine Hospital, offered some pain killers, told to go home and caught the next bus out of there.
After a week of intolerable pain Mr Marks decided to get a second opinion and after further tests at the Western Hospital in Footscray he was told his vertebrae had ruptured and he had multiple myeloma.
Multiple myeloma is cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. When a person has the disease, too many malignant plasma cells are made causing problems including bone disease, anaemia, kidney problems, reduced immunity and infections. There is no cure, but the condition can be managed successfully.
The 73-year-old then underwent radiotherapy for two weeks and spent a month lying in a hospital bed.
“I was pretty crook for a while,” Mr Marks told Star. “It took about a year to get back on my feet.”
What was most alarming is that the grandfather, who had donated blood for years, had no symptoms before the collapse apart from feeling slightly fatigued.
“I was shocked at the diagnosis … I didn’t think I would get blood cancer after giving so much of my own. The doctors thought I needed iron tablets because I felt fatigued, otherwise there was nothing.”
More than three years on after his treatment, Mr Mark is getting better, but life will never be completely back to normal.
“My wife has to do most of the driving, I can’t get up on a ladder, but I can still potter around in the garden. Touch wood I’ve been very lucky.”
Mr Marks attends a Leukaemia Foundation support group every two months and said it is always heartening to speak to people who have the same condition.
Myeloma patients and their families have an opportunity to learn more about international developments in myeloma care, research and treatments this Saturday, 25 May, at a seminar being held at the Moonee Valley Racecourse.
To book your place contact Steve Higgs, Leukaemia Foundation on 03 9949 5806 or email melbournenmd@leukaemia.org.au
