Ashley Dieks and Dr. Saad Z. Usmani mentioned how bicycling could assist sufferers address the emotional and bodily challenges of their myeloma prognosis.
The 2025 Iceland Biking Expedition begins on August 27, 2025, the place a bunch of cyclists will set out on a journey throughout Iceland’s landscapes to boost funds for the Worldwide Myeloma Basis and help the combat in opposition to a number of myeloma.
CURE sat down for a joint interview with Ashley Dieks and Dr. Saad Z. Usmani. Ashley was recognized with a number of myeloma in 2022, and after her prognosis, biking turned a logo of resilience and a vital a part of her life. She now rides to assist unfold consciousness concerning the seek for a remedy for a number of myeloma. Dr. Usmani has been treating sufferers for about 14 years and stays dedicated to supporting sufferers and their households, taking over the accountability of offering them with up-to-date info.
“It is essential for newly recognized sufferers or those that have been on this journey for years to not lose sight of hope and to know that they don’t seem to be alone,” Ashley emphasised within the interview.
“There’s a lot to sit up for. I inform my crew that we’ve [a fixed amount of time] to remedy myeloma, so let’s get cracking,” Usmani added.
The pair mentioned how bicycling can assist sufferers address the emotional and bodily challenges of their prognosis, present recommendation to those that could really feel overwhelmed after their prognosis, and spotlight up-to-date info throughout the remedy armamentarium.
Dieks has been a paramedic since 2007 and was recognized with a number of myeloma in 2022 on the age of 36.
Usmani is a hematologist-oncologist with particular coaching in a number of myeloma and he serves because the chief of Myeloma Service on the Memorial Sloan Kettering Most cancers Heart in New York. Notably, Usmani can also be the chair of Fundraising for the 2025 Iceland Biking Expedition with Worldwide Myeloma Basis.
CURE: Are you able to share how bicycling helped you address the emotional and bodily challenges of your prognosis, and the way getting ready for the Iceland expedition has formed your outlook on life?
Ashley: I did not actually get into biking this closely till I used to be recognized. I used to be extra of a weightlifter, and I did bodybuilding exhibits and stuff. Once I was first recognized, I used to be fairly far superior. I had loads of bone injury and ended up discovering out I had myeloma from all of the bone fractures. So, I pivoted to biking. I really had my bike in my hospital room with me after I had my stem cell transplant.
Biking was a safer means for me to train and nonetheless keep that a part of my life that I put loads of my identification into. Health is large for me, and I am a paramedic, so I type of need to be slightly bit match to raise all these sufferers. So, on a foul day or a great day, getting on the bike is simply how I course of all the pieces. I’ve by no means let myeloma itself dictate what I can and can’t do. I simply hop on the bike, and I type of work by all of the ups and downs and feelings with that.
From a medical perspective, how can actions just like the IMF Iceland Biking Expedition help emotional therapeutic, neighborhood constructing, and long-term well-being for people dwelling with myeloma?
Usmani: I feel the occasion really highlights the truth that we’re this one huge, big neighborhood and that we’ve this platform for sufferers, caregivers, physicians, and researchers. All of us are on this collectively, and that creates camaraderie towards a standard purpose. I feel occasions like this are greater than only a fundraising occasion; they convey completely different individuals collectively and break down these limitations. Kudos to the IMF for gathering all of us on this platform to take action for a tremendous trigger and to help Initiative.
Ashley, many sufferers can battle with coping with their prognosis and discovering objective after most cancers. What recommendation would you give to others who could really feel overwhelmed or disconnected from their earlier sense of identification?
Ashley: I feel [that is to be expected], and we’re all going to undergo these moments on the preliminary prognosis, after which all through, like after we relapse and are in remission.
What I discovered personally useful after I was first recognized was discovering an area help group and connecting with individuals on-line. I am the youngest affected person in Sudbury with myeloma, so I discovered it troublesome as a result of no person right here was my age, 18 years into their profession, you already know, with youngsters and a mortgage and all of those different issues. I did not actually have lots of people to narrate to. So, I discovered my neighborhood on-line by social media.
Should you’re feeling disconnected, attempt to discover a help group if that is your factor. Discuss to individuals on-line that you have met by social media. I really discovered concerning the IMF biking journey by a affected person that I met at a convention in Toronto known as “Wholesome Issues,” and he did the Iceland journey final 12 months. That is type of how I related.
Understanding has at all times been an enormous a part of my identification, so holding that and simply pivoting and discovering a brand new ardour was what saved me going.
In the previous few years, what progress has been made in treating a number of myeloma? What do you suppose sufferers ought to be most hopeful about as we speak?
Usmani: Over the previous seven to eight years, we’ve targeted on incorporating each monoclonal antibodies and novel immunotherapies into the schema of myeloma remedy, and we’re seeing some outstanding outcomes. Particularly for standard-risk sufferers, we’re seeing better depth of responses early on which can be serving to to create higher survival outcomes for sufferers.
For the primary time in a very long time, we are actually speaking a few practical remedy for myeloma, and our sufferers reside longer and longer. Once I began within the subject, the survivorship for myeloma was a few years. Now we’re speaking about 15 to twenty years and much more. Every year that we proceed so as to add these new remedy choices and enhance the remedy scheme, I feel we proceed to boost that bar. It is gratifying to be a part of that journey and to be a part of this neighborhood that is serving to us transfer in that course. We have now at all times had measured hope for our sufferers, and it is actually wonderful to see this alteration in paradigm.
There’s a lot to sit up for. I inform my crew that we’ve 10 years to remedy myeloma, so let’s get cracking. That is not simply one thing my crew is concentrated on; I feel the myeloma analysis neighborhood at giant is huddled round that notion.
With that being stated, what message do you each hope the Iceland Biking Expedition will ship to the broader public, particularly to sufferers who’re simply starting their journey and could also be feeling remoted or discouraged?
Ashley: For me, I simply suppose it is essential for newly recognized sufferers or those that have been on this journey for years to not lose sight of hope and to know that they don’t seem to be alone. There’s a huge neighborhood on the market the place we’ll help each other, and you’ll at all times have somebody to speak to and lean on.
Usmani: I’ve completed a number of occasions through the years to boost cash for myeloma analysis. I am not a bicycle owner. I used to be a part of the inaugural Iceland biking journey final 12 months, and I am proud to say that I used to be in all probability within the decrease tier of people that completed the trip. It is possible going to be the identical this 12 months as a result of we’ve some wonderful athletes on our crew who’ve been fundraising and coaching.
What is actually putting to me is that in every occasion I’ve participated in, you’ve got sufferers and caregivers. You begin the journey very formally; there is a barrier between healthcare of us and the sufferers and caregivers. By the tip of the journey, you are all buddies, and also you notice you are all simply common individuals. I feel breaking down that barrier and treating one another as human beings helps us create that neighborhood and produce everybody collectively. I am at all times amazed by the friendships and tales we share and the recollections we make throughout that point. That half at all times resonates with me.
I am actually trying ahead to this subsequent Biking Expedition arising in just some weeks. For our viewers and listeners, you may go to the Worldwide Myeloma Basis’s Iceland Biking Expedition web site, lookup Ashley Dykes, and donate to her web page. By doing so, you additionally turn into a part of the story. That is what helps us be a neighborhood.
Transcript has been edited for readability and conciseness
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