Skip to content

South Surrey woman making strides for rare form of cancer

Kundan Uppal-Dubinsky to participate in this year’s multiple myeloma march
13890925_web1_copy_walk1
Participants gather for the 2017 Vancouver Multiple Myeloma March. (Contributed photo)

When South Surrey’s Kundan Uppal-Dubinsky went to the hospital for a fractured sacrum and pelvis in 2016, she received live-changing news.

It was the second time in two years that she had gone to the hospital for a fractured bone. The doctors recommended blood tests and a biopsy, which confirmed she had multiple myeloma, an incurable cancer of the plasma cells.

“When I was diagnosed at first, I didn’t know where to get help,” Uppal-Dubinsky said in a news release last week. “There was no one for me to talk to.”

Uppal-Dubinsky, who was 54 at the time of her diagnosis, is considered in remission after a successful stem-cell transplant 15 months ago.

On Oct. 20, she will be participating in the second edition of the Vancouver Multiple Myeloma March at the Burnaby Lake Rowing Pavilion.

The march supports Myeloma Canada, a non-profit organization created by and for people impacted by multiple myeloma.

“I was initially misdiagnosed because multiple myeloma is not common, and therefore not regularly tested for,” Uppal-Dubinsky said. “We need to do as much as possible to let people know that this cancer exists so that they ask their doctors about it if they start experiencing symptoms associated with myeloma.”

Over the past decade, the average life expectancy of a myeloma patient has doubled, with many now living 10 years or longer thanks to unprecedented advances in research and the development of treatment options, a Myeloma Canada news release states.

“The Multiple Myeloma March is critical for raising funds for clinical research that give myeloma patients access to new treatments that have been proven to make a difference in patient outcomes,” Vancouver General Hospital principal investigator Dr. Heather Sutherland said in a release.

Information on the event, which raised more than $28,000 as of Tuesday afternoon, can be found at http://support.myeloma.ca/

13890925_web1_walk3crop
Kundan Uppal-Dubinsky will be participating in this year’s myeloma march. (Contributed photo)


About the Author: Aaron Hinks

Read more