“At 35 I started having a yearly ‘warrant of fitness’ – getting my body checked out. I was pretty rough on it!”
Craig laughs. “At 38, my doctor did the usual thing, had my blood test done. A few days later, he said that we need to have a chat.”
“At first he said, ‘Unfortunately, you might have leukaemia (not myeloma). He was a good doctor, but he had a funny way of approaching things. He just blurted it out.”
“I sat there, thinking. Oh f***. Excuse my French, but what is this all about?”
Craig was referred to a haematologist. “I didn’t even know what a haematologist was! But I went to the hospital and had an excruciating bone marrow biopsy.”
“The doctor said, ‘This might hurt, yell if you wish’, and my wife Janet said my language was very colourful!”
A week later, the doctor told Craig that he had Monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) – which he explained looked like the beginning stages of myeloma.
“It was like a pimple. It could either grow or it could go away – unfortunately mine became myeloma.” At 49, Craig needed a bone marrow transplant. He searched amongst all of the people in his life, and unfortunately no one was a match, so he used his own bone marrow.
“Even though I was numb, the doctor used this sharp bore needle through the muscle to extract blood. I jumped when I saw it, and then she jumped too, because I scared her as well!” Craig cracks up, “And then I was on some intense chemo.”
“Everything tasted metallic. I was a bit overweight, so when I lost 10kgs – I thought that was great!” Craig says, grinning. “I went completely bald and I’d stand in front of the mirror, and think – it’s not so bad, being bald, actually.”
Having picked up a bug, Craig spent Christmas day in hospital. “I ate hospital food, while Janet sat there next to me, enjoying crayfish! So I was like, oh what a great Christmas this is.” He says, laughing.
Craig’s happy-go-lucky attitude played a part in his recovery – as well as the support from LBC. “We went to the support groups in Tauranga, Auckland and Sean’s online Zoom meetings. It’s fantastic what LBC do for patients like us.”
And, of course there is his wife Janet. “Janet gets involved when I need help. She thinks I’m the biggest pain in the a** when I’m on Dexamethasone! It’s such an intense drug, and it makes me grumpy, and I don’t sleep well on it. But, I know this is hard for her as well.”
However, Craig is optimistic. After his bone marrow transplant, he was OK for about 16 months. At 52, he retired after working and traveling through his treatments. Now at 62, he’s been on a number of funded drug trials which he estimates has given him over 9 ‘extra’ years of life that he may not have had, otherwise.
“Alongside all the other drugs, I’ve had thalidomide, lenolidimide and pomalide. I’ve had ALL the ‘mides’ – I don’t think there’s anything left! I was a bit of a guinea pig. But that didn’t bother me, because it was about the future of the disease and helping patients after me. Remember – keep positive, the brain is a strong tool.”