Susan's Myeloma Challenge 2020

For the past 4 years, the SAMPS Walk has always been an annual event for my family. 2014 was a very difficult year for us, not only was I diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma but I also had a crushed vertebrate in my spine from a tumour. My mobility was severely impaired until I received my SCT and was then was able to have back surgery.

Thanks to my wonderful doctors, I was able to walk again and I promised myself I would never take my ability to lead an active life for granted ever again.

COVID-19 with all its restrictions brought a new twist to this year’s SAMPS walk. Our team, which usually consisted of a group of family and friends was reduced to just my immediate family. As a family, we decided that we would all challenge ourselves to walk at least 20 km over a 1-week period.

What we discovered though was that a number of friends and family still wanted to join in. In addition to donating they also decided they wanted to challenge themselves to walk at least 20 km that week as well.

We decided that for those that were participating we would all meet at our house to do the final 5 km on the last day of the Challenge. When we were all gathered together, we wore masks and then broke off in family groups or pairs to walk a 5 km loop around Parkland. We were careful to social distance but still had the fun of doing something together. It turned out to be a memorable morning.