In 2010 my mother died of multiple myeloma. She had actually been suffering from it for over a year, but unfortunately it wasn’t properly diagnosed until a few weeks before her death. Her health problems actually started a year prior. She was on a trip in Monterrey visiting family when she started complaining of hip pain. Her cousin took her to a chiropractor, but this just made it worse. The pain just got worse when she returned home. A few days after she returned home I received a call at work from my sister. My sister informed me that my mother couldn’t even stand on her own any more. We knew we had to take her to the hospital immediately. My Mother was always the strong one, she was never sick and she never complained about anything, so for her to admit she needed to go to the hospital I immediately knew something was really wrong. After a long night in the emergency room the doctor on duty finally informed us it was a broken hip. That was June 25th 2009, it’s easy to remember the date because it was my birthday. This was the same hospital where I was born, so I joked with my mom that it had been over 30 years since we both spent the night in the hospital. She was release from the hospital a week and a half later after a successful hip replacement. Unfortunately, the multiple myeloma went undiagnosed. My mother went through physical therapy and seemed to improved over the next few months. It wasn’t until about 9 months later her health started to decline again. At first it was minor things like her forgetting stuff, but her physical and mental state declined over the course of a few weeks. I knew we had to do something so we took her to the emergency room on a Friday. After another long stay in the emergency room they admitted her to the ICU. The next day they informed me and my sisters that the scans showed her several areas where her bones we eaten away. Her right arm, hips, jaw and spine were all affected. They couldn’t comment on the cause until the Oncologist officially diagnosed it as cancer, but I already knew this was some form of cancer. After 3-4 days they admitted her into the oncology ward and officially diagnosed it as multiple myeloma. We spent the next few weeks in the cancer ward. Her kidney function continued declined, which started affecting her memory. As I started to research the disease suddenly everything made sense. Her broken hip, her forgetfullness, everything that had been going for over a year finally had a cause. As soon as she was stable they wanted to discharge her. At this time she couldn’t walk or even stand so my family finally reluctantly agreed to admit my mother into a nursing home. This wasn’t an easy decision, but she needed a full time caregiver. My mother didn’t have the best medical coverage and because of this we were limited to our selection of nursing homes. The one we found in Highland Park was barely acceptable, but we had no choice since all my siblings worked. After 2 days we decided at the nursing home we could do better on our own, and decided to move her back home. We weren’t sure how it would work out, but with the help of our family we knew we would manage. She never wanted to be in the nursing home and was happy to hear she was going home. Before releasing her from the home the doctor ordered one more blood test. This test showed her red blood cells to be low. The doctor told me she needed to go back to the hospital for a blood transfusion. So the ambulance we thought would be taking her home ended up taking her back to the hospital that day. Regardless we were still happy she would be home soon. That night in the hospital before I waited for the nurse to check her vitals. Her blood pressure was a little low and her temperature was down. I didn’t think anything of it, and the nurse told me it wasn’t anything to worry about. So I said goodbye to my mom that night and told her I loved her. I didn’t know this was the last time I would talk to her. The next day at work my sister called me and informed me that my mother had developed sepsis. The chemo had destroyed her immune system and there was nothing left to fight this infection. She slipped into a coma and the doctors told us we had to make a choice whether we wanted her on life support. She already had an advanced directive and we knew if we put her on life support the chances of her coming of it was very slim. So we decided against the life support and let her die peacefully. I only had a few weeks to learn about this disease before my mother died, but through each of your stories I have learned that there is hope. Your stories give me hope that we will one day beat this disease. I see the progress that has been made over the past few years, and it makes me proud to contribute to LLS. I’ve never been a runner, I’ve never liked to run, but over the past 6 months I’ve actually started looking forward to our runs. So I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to contribute to the fight against this disease, and for introducing me to the world of running. It’s not always easy to be here so early, and the first few long runs were painful but when I think about why we are here, when I think about my mother in that hospital bed wanting to get up and walk so bad, suddenly the pain goes away, suddenly I look forward to the run. So I just want to say thank you for this opportunity to run with all of you. Go Team!