UnbreakaBell marching for myeloma research

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This article was published 18/09/2020 (2131 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Riverview resident will lead his family and friends this weekend as the head of Team UnbreakaBell in the 10th annual Winnipeg Multiple Myeloma March.

Steven Bell said that, given the pandemic, everyone involved in the march is doing it on their own.

“Our plan is to walk along Churchill Drive,” he said.

Bell was diagnosed with myeloma in January 2019. The fit and active high school teacher, who was used to running after his four- and six-year-old children, sensed something just wasn’t right. 

For weeks, he couldn’t seem to shake what felt like influenza. He consulted his family doctor who sent him for a battery of tests, including a bone marrow biopsy. A month later, at age 35, he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a little-known and incurable cancer of the plasma cells.

Within a year-and-a-half of being diagnosed, he went through four months of extensive chemotherapy to prepare for an autologous stem cell transplant using his own stem cells. In September of last year, he underwent the procedure at Health Sciences Centre Winnipeg. 

“As a coincidence, the procedure took place at the same time as last year’s march,” he said. “It was a big year, because we were dealing with this. My family and friends did the march for me, and I was happy to learn that they were the highest donating team in Manitoba, raising over $7,000.”

A few months later, he was ecstatic to learn that the stem cell transplant was a success; Steven has been in remission since. He still undergoes chemotherapy every second Friday.

“I am in an immune-compromised state. The chemotherapy drug they give you wiped out all my white blood cells. So I’m currently getting all my childhood vaccines all over again.”

Today, Bell is beyond thankful to spend quality time with his wife and children, and hopes to return to teaching full-time soon at Murdoch Mackay Collegiate where he teaches woodworking.

He has seen first-hand the life-changing impact that advances in myeloma research are having on the lives of those living with this incurable cancer. Approximately nine Canadians a day are diagnosed with this cancer.

“The march raises funds so that researchers can find a cure,” he said, adding he and his fellow marchers have set a fundraising goal of $50,000. “Even after the march is over, people can still make donations on the website.”

Research is being done across the country, with three clinical trials happening in Winnipeg.

Winnipeg is one of a record 33 communities across the country to be included in this year’s Multiple Myeloma March. The national fundraising goal is set at $650,000.

For more information, see https://bit.ly/3mw6N48 or www.myeloma.ca