The Myeloma Minutes

Author Jonathan Gluck shares his deeply personal experience of living with myeloma, reflecting on diagnosis, uncertainty, treatment, resilience and what it means to build a life alongside cancer.

📌Key Takeaways:

•  How do you live with uncertainty? Jonathan shares the lessons myeloma taught him. 
•  A diagnosis can change your life - but it doesn’t have to define it. 
•  One patient’s story of resili...

This episode explores why people with myeloma are more vulnerable to infection, how treatments affect immunity, and the practical steps patients and carers can take to stay well.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Myeloma and its treatments can weaken the immune system - but the risk changes over time. 
• Fever, coughs or feeling “not quite right” should never be ignored - early treatment matters.
• From vaccines to exercise and prevent...

This episode explains why people with myeloma are at higher risk of blood clots, how blood thinners help, and the warning signs patients and carers should never ignore.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Myeloma and some myeloma treatments can increase the risk of dangerous blood clots.
• Simple steps like staying hydrated, keeping mobile and taking blood thinners correctly really matter.
• Leg swelling, chest pain or sudden breathlessness should n...

This episode explores why pain happens in myeloma, how it affects daily life, and the many ways it can be managed - from painkillers to specialist support.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Myeloma pain is common - but it can almost always be improved with the right approach.
• Pain relief isn’t just tablets - treatments, radiotherapy and targeted procedures all play a role.
• Uncontrolled pain affects everything - so speak up early and ofte...

This episode explains minimal residual disease (MRD) - what it is, how it’s measured, and how it could shape more personalised myeloma treatment in the future.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Even when blood tests look ‘normal’, tiny amounts of myeloma can still remain - MRD helps find it.
• Reaching MRD negativity is a powerful sign - it often means longer, deeper remission.
• In the future, MRD could decide when to stop, redu...

This episode breaks down common blood test results in myeloma, helping patients and carers understand what the numbers mean, what matters most, and when to worry (and when not to).

📌Key Takeaways:

• Not all ‘red’ results are bad - trends over time matter more than a single number.
• Three key numbers to watch: haemoglobin, neutrophils and platelets.
• Blood tests are your roadmap - guiding treatment, safety and how you&...

Meera shares her powerful 15-year journey with multiple myeloma — from diagnosis during pregnancy to stem cell transplant, maintenance therapy and ultimately CAR-T treatment leading to remission.

📌Key Takeaways:

• CAR-T can work fast! Mira’s light chains became undetectable within weeks.
• Relapse doesn’t mean the end of options: new treatments are changing what’s possible.
• You are not alone: sharing real...

In this episode Doctors Jam & Sally explain CAR-T cell therapy for myeloma - how it works, what the treatment journey looks like, the potential side effects, and why it offers hope for longer treatment-free time.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Your own immune cells can be re-engineered to find and destroy myeloma - a truly personalised treatment.
• After CAR-T, many patients can have months or years off regular therapy.
• It’s powerfu...

This episode explains the new NICE-approved combination of belantamab, pomalidomide and dexamethasone for people whose myeloma has relapsed after first-line treatment, including benefits, side effects and how treatment decisions are made.

📌Key Takeaways:

• This new combination can keep myeloma under control for nearly three years after first relapse.
• Eye side effects are common but closely monitored, reversible and manageable w...

This episode looks ahead to 2026, exploring upcoming myeloma treatments, major research advances, and the topics patients and carers most want to understand.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Powerful new immunotherapy combinations could dramatically change how long treatments work.
• CAR T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies are moving closer to earlier use in myeloma care.
• Living well with myeloma matters more than ever - from infection ris...

Dr Jam Katari and Dr Sally Moore are joined by leading myeloma experts to look back on 2025’s biggest breakthroughs; from functional cures and new treatments to patient-friendly innovations.

This is part 2 of a seasonal special, featuring Professor Karthik Ramasamy and Dr. Ceri Bygrave. To hear the first part, please follow this link: Part1

1. Functional cure is no longer just a dr...

Dr Jam Katari and Dr Sally Moore are joined by leading myeloma experts to look back on 2025’s biggest breakthroughs; from early treatment for smouldering myeloma to cutting-edge CAR-T therapy made inside the body.

This is part 1 of a seasonal special, featuring Professor Karthik Ramasamy and Dr. Ceri Bygrave. Please ensure you listen to our second part next week.

1. Early action: Could treatin...

This episode introduces Talquetamab - a newly approved bispecific antibody for relapsed myeloma - explaining how it works, who it’s for, and what side effects patients should expect and prepare for.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Talquetamab is a brand-new treatment targeting GPRC5D - offering another effective option after several previous therapies.
• Early side effects like fever, blood pressure changes or confusion are monitored clo...

Sean Molloy, renown spinal surgeon at the Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital (RNOH) NHS Trust in Stanmore explains how tailored bracing, breakthrough bone healing in myeloma, physiotherapy and minimally invasive vertebroplasty can transform pain, mobility and long-term spinal stability.

📌Key Takeaways:

• A brace can act like “nature’s own surgery”, guiding powerful myeloma-driven bone regrowth to preven...

Dr Jam & Sally unpack what neuropathy is, why it happens in myeloma treatment, and how patients can recognise, prevent and manage it to protect their quality of life.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Know the signs early – tingling, numbness or pain shouldn’t be ignored; speak up before symptoms worsen.
• Treatment can be adjusted – modern dosing and combinations make neuropathy less common and more manageable.
• You don&rsq...

Dr Jam & Sally unpack what remission, relapse and refractory disease truly mean for people living with myeloma — and explore how close we are to talking about cure.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Remission ≠ cure – myeloma can be controlled for years, even if it never fully disappears.
• Monitoring matters – blood tests, bone marrow checks and scans together tell the full story.
• Hope is growing – deeper remissions...

This episode unpacks the complex world of myeloma genetics - what high and standard risk really mean, how these tests guide treatment, and how future advances could lead to truly personalised care with Sarah Gooding.

Sarah is a colleague, and an Honorary Consultant Haematologist, based in Oxford.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Your myeloma is unique - genetic tests help doctors understand how it may behave and respond to treatment.
• High-ri...

This episode features Dr Sophie Castell, CEO of Myeloma UK, sharing insights into the charity’s vital work in research, advocacy, patient support, and tackling inequalities in myeloma care.

📌Key Takeaways:

• Survival rates for myeloma have quadrupled — and living well is now as important as living longer.

• Myeloma UK drives progress from early diagnosis to survivorship, always keeping patients’ voices centr...

Welcome to The Myeloma Minutes.  We've now moved to a fortnightly release schedule, so you can now hear us every-other Thursday.

This episode explains the newly approved four-drug treatment (Isatuximab, Velcade, Lenalidomide and Dexamethasone) for older people with myeloma who are not eligible for a stem cell transplant.

📌Key Takeaways:

• This four-drug ‘quadruplet’ can keep myeloma under control for many years...