Myeloma Patient Rockstar: Cindy Chmielewski

Our Guest for today was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2008. An article about her posted by the American Association for Cancer Research describes her this way: Cindy Chmielewski is a social media rock star in myeloma patient circles. https://www.aacrfoundation.org/Survivors/Pages/cindy-chmielewski-multiple-myeloma.aspx

Using the Twitter handle @MyelomaTeacher the retired teacher and patient advocate shares information, hope, and encouragement about treating and dealing with this cancer which affects the plasma cells and will result in over 32,000 new cases and almost 13,000 deaths in 2019 according to the American Cancer Society. Since establishing her Twitter account a decade ago Cindy has posted over 40K tweets, received almost 8,000 likes, and has a following of more than 6,600. In addition to her activities on Twitter she administers the Philadelphia Multiple Myleoma Networking Group on FaceBook that updates information on political action, clinical trials, and educational opportunities relevant to this very uncommon cancer which carries a lifetime risk of 1 in 132 persons (0.76%) having the disease.