[ad_1]
Multiple Myeloma is a deadly cancer that attacks and kills twice as many Black people as it does white people. Researchers have worked to find a cure, and they have uncovered something else contributing to the racial disparity. African American people do not always have the same access to current treatment and clinical trials. A powerful partnership has come together to level the playing field, pushing for health equity-based solutions and ultimately a cure. Tiffany Williams is a Multiple Myeloma patient.”Everyday I look in the mirror I’m reminded. I’m living with cancer and that’s a pretty powerful thing to just sit in,” said Williams. Williams got the news about her diagnosis eight and a half years ago. She is a 46-year-old nurse practitioner and mother of three. She has a terminal cancer that changed her life instantly. “I’m living with this and unless there’s a cure, I will always be living with this,” said Williams. Multiple Myeloma is rare. It forms in the white blood cells, impacting the immune system. Researchers find that African Americans by far face the highest risk. “The incidents of Multiple Myeloma is twice as high and death rate is twice as high among African Americans,” said Dr. Yvens Laborde with Ochsner Global Medicine. Laborde thinks a contributing factor to numbers being so high is because African Americans do not always get an equitable standard of care. “When patients are involved in the clinical research and also when patients are given the appropriate standard of care, there is no difference at the end of the day in terms of the outcome,” said Laborde. Andy Dalavisio, an Ochsner Multiple Myeloma specialist, says African Americans do better when they get aggressive treatment. “African American patients do just as well, if not better than caucasian patients when they are able to get the full kind of optimal treatment and aggressive approach that we typically take and so seeing really everyone get the best possible treatment is obviously what all doctors want,” said Dalavisio. Dalavisio teamed with Xavier University to create the Ochsner Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research. They now work with the National Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation to provide groundbreaking clinical trials called “The Cure-Cloud Project.” The project helps as many as 5,000 patients. “We want to have African American, Black patients equitably represented in the Curecloud project, so our work with Oschner is to insure that we do enroll African American patients as well as other patients into the cure cloud project,” said Dr. Hearn Jay Cho, MMRF Chief Medical Officer. The good news is with the ongoing research and clinical trials, lives are already being extended by decades. A cure is also a real possibility. “When you think about the average age of this diagnosis is being in people in their 60s and 70s, if you can get them to their 80s or 90s, that’s a victory,” said Dalavisio. On Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. there will be a Multiple Myeloma patient summit presented by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in partnership with Ochsner Health. The summit will deal with health disparities in the Black community as well as new treatments and clinical trials. You can learn more about the summit here.
Multiple Myeloma is a deadly cancer that attacks and kills twice as many Black people as it does white people.
Researchers have worked to find a cure, and they have uncovered something else contributing to the racial disparity.
African American people do not always have the same access to current treatment and clinical trials.
A powerful partnership has come together to level the playing field, pushing for health equity-based solutions and ultimately a cure.
Tiffany Williams is a Multiple Myeloma patient.
“Everyday I look in the mirror I’m reminded. I’m living with cancer and that’s a pretty powerful thing to just sit in,” said Williams.
Williams got the news about her diagnosis eight and a half years ago. She is a 46-year-old nurse practitioner and mother of three. She has a terminal cancer that changed her life instantly.
“I’m living with this and unless there’s a cure, I will always be living with this,” said Williams.
Multiple Myeloma is rare. It forms in the white blood cells, impacting the immune system. Researchers find that African Americans by far face the highest risk.
“The incidents of Multiple Myeloma is twice as high and death rate is twice as high among African Americans,” said Dr. Yvens Laborde with Ochsner Global Medicine.
Laborde thinks a contributing factor to numbers being so high is because African Americans do not always get an equitable standard of care.
“When patients are involved in the clinical research and also when patients are given the appropriate standard of care, there is no difference at the end of the day in terms of the outcome,” said Laborde.
Andy Dalavisio, an Ochsner Multiple Myeloma specialist, says African Americans do better when they get aggressive treatment.
“African American patients do just as well, if not better than caucasian patients when they are able to get the full kind of optimal treatment and aggressive approach that we typically take and so seeing really everyone get the best possible treatment is obviously what all doctors want,” said Dalavisio.
Dalavisio teamed with Xavier University to create the Ochsner Xavier Institute for Health Equity and Research.
They now work with the National Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation to provide groundbreaking clinical trials called “The Cure-Cloud Project.”
The project helps as many as 5,000 patients.
“We want to have African American, Black patients equitably represented in the Curecloud project, so our work with Oschner is to insure that we do enroll African American patients as well as other patients into the cure cloud project,” said Dr. Hearn Jay Cho, MMRF Chief Medical Officer.
The good news is with the ongoing research and clinical trials, lives are already being extended by decades. A cure is also a real possibility.
“When you think about the average age of this diagnosis is being in people in their 60s and 70s, if you can get them to their 80s or 90s, that’s a victory,” said Dalavisio.
On Saturday from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. there will be a Multiple Myeloma patient summit presented by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation in partnership with Ochsner Health.
The summit will deal with health disparities in the Black community as well as new treatments and clinical trials.
You can learn more about the summit here.
[ad_2]
Source link
