Multiple Myeloma Cancer Support Group

Please feel free to click on the photo of Elliot Recht and listen to his invitation to attend and become a member of the Multiple Myeloma Cancer Support Group in San Diego.

How Our Myeloma Cancer Support Group Got Started

With courage as his biggest weapon against myeloma, Fred Gloor, with the incredible support of his wife Virginia, had fought valiantly for 12 years against a disease for which there is no cure. It was in 1992 he received a diagnosis of MGUS. Learning that he only had a 25% chance of developing myeloma, Mr. Gloor planned for retirement; a full plate of enjoying life. Just as he retired in 1995 he learned the disease had progressed to myeloma. It was then the battle began in earnest.

In the long run, his battle has produced many victories, including the founding of the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group. In the beginning Mr. Gloor struggled through treatments not knowing one other myeloma patient. After finishing a stem cell transplant treatment in July of 1997, he began attending a support group for patients who had stem cell transplants. It was there that he met two other myeloma patients and the need for a support group dedicated to myeloma became clear. During this same period, Mr. Gloor discovered the IMF and learned that there was no support group in San Diego. The challenge from the IMF to Mr. Gloor was to start a local support group and in his usual courageous manner, he thought "why not?"

Mr. Gloor recalls how his life changed when he started the group. He believes myeloma ordained him to help others with this disease in any way possible. Every time he talked with a newly diagnosed patient or family member he gained courage as he helped alleviate their fear and gave them hope. He often quoted a phrase from Dr. Bernie Segal, "there are no incurable diseases, only incurable people." His straightforward advice to anyone battling the disease was to become an exceptional cancer patient, to be proactive and take control of his or her disease.

In seven short years, with Mr. Gloor leading the charge, the San Diego Myeloma Support Group grew from its initial five members to a very active and well-attended 70-member group. Mr. Gloor believed that without the support group he would not have had the success he had in battling the disease. Thinking back to the beginning, Mr. Gloor recalled how the IMF, by providing information, allows patients to overcome fear and focus on their recovery.

Mr. Gloor grew up in San Diego and graduated from Saint Augustine High School. He graduated from the California Maritime Academy, spent three years in the Navy and 30 plus years as a sea going man. Mr. Gloor has sailed most of the Pacific between Alaska to the South Pole, his last 12 years as Master Mariner and Captain of the SS President Harrison.

The Multiple Myeloma Support Group of San Diego wishes to thank Virginia Gloor for her continued support for the Multiple Myeloma Cancer Support Group in San Diego.

Multiple Myeloma Support Group in San Diego was selected as a Finalist

The Multiple Myeloma Cancer Support Group in San Diego was selected as a Finalist in the Third Annual “San Diego Business Journal’s” Health Care Champion Award contest. Many of the top healthcare providers in San Diego had entered the competition.

Health Care Champions is an event and special supplement that recognizes individuals and/or organizations in the County of San Diego health care industry that are making a significant impact on the quality of health care.

• Health Care Management
• Health Care Innovation & Research
• Health Care Educator
• Community Outreach
• Physician
• Nurse
• Health Care Staff

The San Diego Cancer Support Group entered under the Community Outreach category for it's Multiple Myeloma Support in the San Diego area. The support group feels very lucky to have been selected, not only to be recognized, but also to be presented a Finalist award.

International Myeloma Foundation Sponsors Conference in San Diego

The International Myeloma Foundation (IMF) in conjunction with the Multiple Myeloma Support Group San Diego, sponsored a national conference on Multiple Myeloma in August of 2008 here in San Diego. The conference being held here shows how the San Diego Multiple Myeloma Support Group is an integral part of the IMF.

Guest speakers included opening remarks by Susie Novis, IMF founder; and Dr. Brian Durie, Chair for the IMF. Other Guest speakers included Dr. Morie Gertz; Dr. Angelina Dizpenzieri, both of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester MN, and Dr. Keith Stewart of the Mayo Clinic in Tucson.

One aspect of the conference that was appreciated by all of the attendees, over 300 hundred people from all over the U.S. attended the conference, allowed for “one on one” discussion groups with each of the doctors. Each Dr. spoke about a different aspect of Multiple Myeloma and how to deal with Myeloma symptoms.

Subjects ranged from MGUS; smoldering myeloma, Multiple Myeloma treatment therapy and new medications including Revlimid, Velcade, Melphalan and Zometa (one of the newest bone enhancing drugs on the market). Recommendations for separate tests to be done included bone surveys, serum free light chain assays (one of the newest detectors of Multiple Myeloma); Pet Scans, because they show more than the typical x-ray and MRI scans; the latest drug therapies being tested right now, and a special “one on one” seminar for families, caregivers and friends of Myeloma patients.

It isn’t often that a patient can have a “one on one” question and answer session with some of the leading Myeloma researchers and Drs. In the U.S.

San Diego Multiple Myeloma Cancer Support Group Meetings

Guest Speakers 2007 - Present