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* Running with, not from, cancer

http://www.startribune.com/local/east/132203933.html

Running with, not from, cancer

Article by: TIM HARLOW ,  Sunday, October 23, 2011

Don Wright, 70, plans to run a marathon in all 50 states, a goal he set eight years ago after he was diagnosed with an incurable form of cancer.

Don Wright, 70 didn’t begin running until he was 62, when he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Since then he has run 54 marathons in 36 states. Wright ran a practice run near his Lake Elmo home.

Marathon runners know that the 26.2-mile races provide plenty of opportunities for humbling moments. For Don Wright, the first occurs when the horn goes off and he crosses the starting line.

For Wright, 70, each race is another step in his battle to ward off multiple myeloma, a cancer that has no cure and often manifests itself through bone or back pain. It’s also an opportunity to raise money to help other cancer patients pay their medical bills.

“I get very emotional at the start, almost weepy,” said Wright, of Lake Elmo. “As I’m drifting past the scenery, I think about how fortunate I am and how I’m sticking my finger in the eye of the cancer.”

Since he was diagnosed with myeloma eight years ago, Wright has logged more than 1,400 miles in completing 57 marathons in 38 states. He’s won awards for first-place finishes in his age group and clocked times that allowed him to qualify for the prestigious Boston Marathon.

It’s always a thrill to cross the finish line, Wright said, but his proudest accomplishment has been making life better for others.

In each race — including the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 30 and his second New York City Marathon on Nov. 6 — Wright runs for Team Continuum, a nonprofit that provides financial assistance to help cover daily living expenses for cancer victims and their families who are saddled with medical bills. Donations can be made at www.startribune.com/a721.

“Running for a great organization like Team Continuum is a way for me to help others lead better lives with cancer,” he said.

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Wright has already beaten those odds, and even though the cancer could sideline him any day, he jokes that his two most immediate concerns are runner’s knee and a sports hernia.

Wright has been able to keep myeloma’s ill effects at bay by skipping traditional chemotherapy and instead taking the experimental drug Pomalidomide daily. He makes monthly trips to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester for checkups. Running is his best form of physical therapy.

“The weight-bearing actually helps preserve bone density,” said Dr. Martha Lacy, Wright’s physician at Mayo who has studied the illness for more than 15 years. “He’s got lots of stamina and his attitude is amazing. He is focused on being well. He’s quite a guy.”

Although he ran cross country in high school, Wright only dabbled in running over the next few decades until he rediscovered his “runner’s urge” when he was in his early 60s, the age when myeloma is most likely to occur. He ran and completed his first marathon — Grandma’s in Duluth — in 4:30:11 in 2003. Just days later, he was diagnosed with the cancer.

“I was shocked. I had no symptoms,” said Wright, a former innovator at Maplewood’s 3M Co. “I thought ‘I have to hurry before it’s too late to run Boston.'”

He achieved that goal in 2004, clocking in at 4:16:07, which led to the larger goal of completing at least one marathon in all 50 states. He’s made it to 41 so far, cheered on by his biggest fans: his wife, Ardis, and daughter, Sarah, who run with him during most of his events.

Wright’s remarkable achievements — physically and medically — are giving doctors hope that one day there will be a cure for myeloma. While they still do not know what causes it, treatments such as Pomalidomide are allowing victims to live longer and maintain a higher quality of life, Lacy said.

“We have been impressed with the drug,” said Lacy, who noted that Wright is among 225 patients who are in a study group which allowed him to be put on the experimental drug. . “It doesn’t work for everybody, but there has been a high response,” Lacy said.

It’s not a cure-all, however, and symptoms could arise at any time. Wright said he has three hot spots in his bones and that makes him a bit nervous.

“There is just no way to know,” he said. “I have no intentions of letting that happen, but I’ve had a good life if that happens.”

Tim Harlow • 651-925-5039 • Twitter: @timstrib

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* 50 Marathons 50 States | 10/14

http://www.ctnow.com/videobeta/01438568-9708-430b-8687-5edea2adf7a2/News/50-Marathons-50-States-10-14

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* 70-year-old battling cancer completes 56th marathon

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PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — Among the thousands of runners who ran in the Maine Marathon, one 70-year-old runner was running for a cause very close to him.

Don Wright suffers from Myeloma, an incurable form of blood cancer.  When he was diagnosed in 2003, he set out to run a marathon in each of the 50 states.  The Maine Marathon is his 56th marathon in his 38th state. Wright is running for Team Continuum, a non-profit that raises money to help cancer patients and their families pay their bills.  His campain slogan is his goal: to “E-Race Cancer”.

“I like to think sometimes as I’m running along that I’m just sticking it right in the cancer’s eye,” Wright said.

Team continuum has a Facebook page, and for every “like” the page receives, $5 will be donated to the non-profit.

NEWS CENTER

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* He has every reason to run

September 30

He has every reason to run

By Glenn Jordan gjordan@mainetoday.com
Staff Writer

Don Wright received his cancer diagnosis the same month as his first marathon medal.

click image to enlarge

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Don Wright

At the time, Wright was 62. Patients with myeloma, a blood cancer that affects cells in the bone marrow, could expect an average of another five years of life.

For Wright, that was eight years and 54 more marathons ago.

He plans to go after No. 56 Sunday morning at the Maine Marathon and Half Marathon, which starts and finishes near Back Cove in Portland.

“I’ve been given extra years of life,” Wright said Thursday while on his way east from his home in Minnesota. “I feel like I need to do the best I can with them, to make it an active and enjoyable life.”

Wright, 70, will be one of approximately 3,500 runners heading north on Route 1 Sunday morning in the 20th edition of the event. About 2,300 will turn around on Route 88 in Falmouth and head back to Portland to complete a half marathon. About 1,200 will continue through Cumberland Foreside to Yarmouth before looping back to Back Cove.

The main beneficiary from this year’s event is Camp To Belong Maine, an organization that brings together siblings separated by foster care or other out-of-home care.

A host of other charities use the Maine Marathon to raise money, most notably the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training Program.

Since 1997, participants in the Maine Marathon, Half Marathon and Relay have raised more than $2.6 million.

Wright is running for Team Continuum, a nonprofit dedicated to helping cancer patients and their families with immediate, vital, nonmedical financial assistance. His campaign is called E-Race Cancer and for every “like” on his campaign’s Facebook page, sponsors will donate $5 to Team Continuum.

A mostly retired computer consultant and lawyer whose treatment consists of a daily pill that doesn’t cure his myeloma but helps keep it in remission, Wright tries to eat only organic food.

His wife Ardis and daughter Sarah will accompany him to Maine. Both plan to run the half marathon.

Wright hadn’t run regularly since high school before taking it up again after turning 60.

“I just wanted to lose weight and be healthy and strong,” he said. “Then when I got into it, I found that I really enjoyed it.”

He built up to marathon distance with the goal of qualifying for Boston. It didn’t happen that first marathon, but he qualified later the same year and ran the 2004 Boston Marathon.

His best time was 3 hours, 36 minutes at the 2006 Twin Cities Marathon when he was 65. As the marathons piled up, he started thinking about joining the 50 states club. That, and a conversation at a hematology conference last winter, led to the fundraising campaign.

Two weeks ago at a marathon in Erie, Pa., Wright checked off his 37th state. Maine will be 38. His upcoming schedule includes Hartford, Conn. (Oct. 15), Washington, D.C. (Oct. 30) and the New York City Marathon (Nov. 6).

“I feel like I’m a very lucky beneficiary of recent research and development in cancer medications,” he said. “We certainly are spending a lot of time enjoying the life that we have. As you can tell, it’s a very active life.

Staff Writer Glenn Jordan can be contacted at 791-6425 or at:

gjordan@pressherald.com

Twitter: GlennJordanPPH

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* Turning Point: Cancer diagnosis hasn’t slowed down dedicated marathoner from Lake Elmo

St. Paul Pioneer Press

9/16/2011

Turning Point: Cancer diagnosis hasn’t slowed down dedicated marathoner from Lake Elmo

http://www.twincities.com/ci_18903940?IADID=Search-www.twincities.com-www.twincities.com

By Rhoda Fukushima

Don Wright (Debra Gendel)

Don Wright of Lake Elmo ran his first marathon, Grandma’s Marathon, in June 2003. That month, he also was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow. Since then, Wright, now 70, has run 54 marathons in 36 states. He wants to do a marathon in every state. Today, Wright plans to run the Erie Marathon in Pennsylvania.

“I wasn’t expecting cancer at all. My family doesn’t have much cancer. When I got the diagnosis, I was scared. But I felt good. It was easy to be in denial, and I was, at first.

“After the initial shock, my reaction was to see if I could qualify for and run the Boston Marathon in 2004. I ran eight 20-mile runs between Grandma’s Marathon (in June) and Twin Cities Marathon (in October). I had qualifying times for Boston twice – at the Twin Cities Marathon and at the Tucson Marathon in December 2003.

“The doctor was totally supportive of my running. He believed it would strengthen my bones. I believe that, too.

“At that point and even yet, the myeloma hasn’t caused any symptoms. It was caught at an early stage. It was two more years before we started treatment.

“I started taking Thalomid. It didn’t do anything but give me a rash. I tried the supplement curcumin, but it didn’t do any good.

“In March 2008, my doctor put me on an experimental drug called pomalidomide. I have been stable ever since. I take that pill every night before I go to bed.
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“When I ran my first marathon, I was thinking, ‘Why on earth would anyone do this?’ It’s a lot of hard work and pain. When I got across the finish line, I knew I would be doing another one.

“Running is emotional, spiritual. Something just draws me to that long run. When I’m running, my mind is free to roam. I can just sort of float across the ground. I love that feeling.

“A friend of my dad’s once told me, ‘I was always ready for a marathon.’ I liked that sentiment. Now, I am always in marathon-ready shape.

“We do this as a family. My wife and daughter run either the marathon or half-marathon. That’s part of the joy.

“I train on the Gateway Trail, and we recently discovered the Lake Elmo Park Reserve. We enjoy running on the trails. This is the time of year to run in the park.

“I like to run when it’s cool. In summer, that means morning runs. In winter, we often go to the Stillwater Dome and run on the indoor soccer track. I’ve run a 20-miler in there. It’s not the most enjoyable thing, but it gets the job done.

“We are very careful about what we eat. We avoid gluten because there is some indication gluten can affect some myeloma patients in a negative way. We also buy organic food.

“I deal with injuries all the time. Name a runner’s injury, and I’ve had it. Sometimes, we have to take time off. Right now, I’m fighting a little injury, a pulled muscle in my abdomen. I’ve been going to the health club to run on the elliptical machines.

“We get to races at least one day early. We try to drive the race course and get a feel for the community. We’ve learned a lot of geography.

“My myeloma is stable. When I was diagnosed, the median survival time was eight years. Now, the median survival time has increased greatly because of new drugs.

“I feel great. Life is good.”

Posted on

* Doctors Tame One Of Cancer’s Deadliest Forms

Doctors Tame One Of Cancer’s Deadliest Forms

by Richard Knox

Listen Now   http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99970093

or download here http://planetcommunications.us/media/20090129_me_07.mp3

Documentary filmmaker Hardy Jones was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in his late 50s. New drugs have helped him keep the cancer at bay for more than five years.

Morning Edition, January 29, 2009 · The chances of surviving cancer have been increasing in recent years. One of the most dramatic success stories in cancer care involves a little-known cancer called multiple myeloma that had been among the deadliest types of the disease.

Myeloma is a painful bone marrow cancer that affects white blood cells that make antibodies. When these cells become malignant, they crowd out other bone marrow cells. That weakens bones so much that patients can break a bone just stepping off a curb.

Hardy Jones, a documentary filmmaker and recreational surfer, was diagnosed with multiple myeloma when he was almost 60. He knew something was wrong when he lost his usual energy.

“I just couldn’t get that stoked feeling, no matter what I did,” Jones says. “I was just always draggin’.” He could barely trudge up the hill from his favorite surfing beach, carrying his surfboard and wet suit.

His doctor ran some tests and mentioned that Jones might have cancer. While waiting for the results, Jones started reading up on possibilities. Some were scary.

“I vowed that I would go in there and no matter what the diagnosis was, I’d be cool,” Jones says. “And when the doctor said, ‘Well, it’s multiple myeloma,’ I said, ‘Oh, my God!’ I totally cracked. I wasn’t cool. But he said, ‘Stop it! Stop it! This is not a death sentence!’ ”

Not any more.

Fighting Myeloma With Drugs

Now there are easy-to-take drugs that can keep myeloma at bay for years.

“Everybody responds, and the majority have a very significant response,” says Dr. Ken Anderson of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. “So it’s clearly a new day in myeloma.”

Anderson says the big breakthrough came a decade ago. Cancer research pioneer Dr. Judah Folkman of Harvard, who died last year, suggested that doctors try treating myeloma with thalidomide. The notorious drug caused an epidemic of birth defects when doctors prescribed it to prevent morning sickness in pregnant women 50 years ago.

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Successes like this touched off an explosion of drugs effective against myeloma, some related to thalidomide and others that work in a different way.

“The excitement here is that we have six new treatment options that we didn’t have only five years ago,” Anderson says. “And we have three additional treatment strategies that are in the last stages, so-called phase three clinical trials, that likely will create additional options.”

Having drugs to mix and match gives myeloma patients hope of remissions even after they relapse — something unusual in cancer treatment.

“It really offers for us the opportunity to treat patients even when their myeloma has come back not once, but perhaps even many times,” Anderson says.

Avoiding Bone Marrow Transplants

Doctors can’t yet cure myeloma, but they’re turning it into a disease that patients can live with for many years. The median survival rate has recently increased from about three years to seven or eight.

U.S. and French researchers are about to launch an international study to see if the new drugs are better than bone marrow transplants, which put patients through a grueling regimen of toxic chemotherapy. Officially, transplants are still the first-line treatment for myeloma, although many patients such as Jones are looking at transplants as a last resort.

“Now the question becomes relevant: Do you actually need a transplant?” Anderson says. “That question couldn’t even have been asked before.”

The picture isn’t all positive. Dr. Brian Durie of the International Myeloma Foundation says more patients are being diagnosed with the disease.

“In the United States, there are approximately 20,000 new patients diagnosed each year,” Durie says. “The incidence used to be 12,000 new cases a year. So it’s a significant upward trend.”

But Dr. Vincent Rajkumar of the Mayo Clinic says the increase in numbers is from aging of the population, not a real increase in the rate of myeloma.

There’s also debate about whether environmental toxins are causing myeloma.

“The commonest chemical that has been linked to myeloma is dioxin,” says Durie. That’s why some Vietnam veterans are thought to have gotten myeloma — from exposure to Agent Orange. The Department of Veterans Affairs has acknowledged the link.

But among the civilian population, the picture isn’t as clear. Some studies are emerging that civilians exposed to herbicides and pesticides do have a higher risk of myeloma. But it’s difficult to pin down people’s exposures to environmental toxins and relate those exposures to the incidence of a rare disease.

The bottom line is that experts say it’s too soon to conclude that environmental toxins are the cause.