April 16, 2026
Myeloma Action Month: A Community That Showed Up
A Word from our CEO
Every year, I look forward to March. Not just because March is one of the most important months in the Canadian myeloma calendar, a time when our entire community comes together with shared purpose, but because it never fails to remind me why this work matters.
This year, as the Myeloma Action Month photos began coming in, I found myself stopping at each one. Friends holding signs in a bookshop. Multi-generational families on the steps of City Hall. A support group that met for dinner after visiting a local monument lit red. Each image tells a story, and together, they send a message: you are not alone.
[Photo: Office of the Prime Minister and Privy Council, Ottawa]
A New Name, A New Energy
This March, we marked an important evolution. What has long been known as Myeloma Awareness Month became Myeloma Action Month, and that distinction is important. Awareness is where we start. Action is where we go. It signals a shift from simply being seen to making ourselves heard, from acknowledging the disease to doing something about it.
And you answered that call in ways that moved me beyond words.
What We Did Together
Landmarks around the world turned red this March. Bridges, monuments, and legislative buildings from coast to coast to coast and across continents lit up in red, an undeniable declaration that myeloma matters.
[Photo: City of Nanaimo Bastion and the Nanaimo Support Group]
At the same time, our social media campaign filled feeds with proof that this disease touches every corner of life: kitchens and front lawns, rugged trails and city streets, small communities and major urban centres. Myeloma doesn’t stay neatly in one place, and neither did this campaign.
Seeing those photos pour in, each one a person, a story, a reason to keep fighting, reminded me that our community is not small. It is vast, it is vibrant, and it is ready.
The Power of a Global Voice
There is something profoundly powerful about knowing that people on the other side of the world are standing up for the same cause. This year’s Myeloma Action Month was a global effort, with myeloma organizations and individuals taking part. When patients and caregivers see that their fight is recognized not just in their own country but internationally, it changes something. It says: what you are living through is recognized, and the world is paying attention.
Collaboration across borders doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because people choose to show up. This year, YOU did.
Canada, I Am So Proud of You
I want to speak directly to the Canadian myeloma community for a moment. What you did this March made me incredibly proud. You lit up your landmarks (over 35!).
[Photo: Mississauga City Hall Clocktower and Halton-Peel Support Group Members.]
You posted your photos. You shared your stories. You made it impossible to ignore that myeloma matters in every province, in every community, in every home where this disease has left its mark.
You stepped into the conversation loudly and with heart. That is exactly the kind of energy that changes things for research funding, for policy, for the people who need to know they have a community behind them.
Moving Forward, Together
Myeloma Action Month may be over, but what it revealed is not going anywhere. There is a community out here that is strong, connected, and deeply committed to one another. I have seen it in your faces, your photos, your messages.
To every patient, caregiver, and supporter who participated this year: thank you. You are the reason this work matters. And we are just getting started.
Finally, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to two exceptional members of the Myeloma Canada team, Chantel Wicks and Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa. I am deeply grateful for their unwavering commitment, creativity, and tireless efforts, all of which were instrumental in making our Canadian Myeloma Action Month such a meaningful and impactful success. Their dedication not only brought this initiative to life, but also strengthened our ability to engage and mobilize our community in a truly powerful way.