Fighting Plasma Cell Leukemia, Retired Nurse Gains New Appreciation for Medical Research

In the fall of 2022, Terry Glassman was facing considerable stress and heartache. Her mother in California was dying and Terry, who lives in New York, was traveling back and forth to help with hospice care. Terry was experiencing profound fatigue, but she chalked it up to the extraordinary pressure she was under at the time.

However, a routine checkup with her doctor revealed that Terry was anemic. A subsequent visit to a hematologist resulted in a diagnosis of plasma cell leukemia (PCL), a rare and aggressive form of multiple myeloma.

“To say the diagnosis was devastating would be an understatement,” Terry recalled. “I had just watched my mother die a slow and painful death, and I feared that my family would have to endure the same experience with me.”

Terry soon found herself on a four-drug regimen and a time-consuming routine of frequent infusions, laboratory testing, scans, and bone marrow biopsies. Her current treatment involves targeted therapies with daratumumab, venetoclax, and intravenous carfilzomib, along with supportive therapies to bolster her immune system and bones.

“I am an unusual high-risk patient because I have not undergone a stem cell transplant,” Terry said. “As a result, I have remained on intensive therapy for more than three years.”

As a retired registered nurse and wife of an anesthesiologist, Terry was already familiar with the importance of medical research, an appreciation that has only grown with her experience as a blood cancer patient.

“Although I have not personally participated in a clinical trial, I firmly believe I am alive today because of decades of federally supported scientific research and clinical investigation,” Terry said.

“Research does not only benefit those enrolled in clinical trials; it benefits every patient who follows,” she added. “It is transforming diseases that were once uniformly fatal into chronic illnesses, extending lives, improving quality of life, and giving patients and families hope for a future they may never have imagined possible.”

Despite the demands posed by her ongoing treatment, Terry enjoys an active life with her family and friends. She said she has found a renewed sense of purpose by serving as a patient advocate in multiple capacities, including with the International Myeloma Foundation’s Long Island Multiple Myeloma Informational Support Group (which she founded and leads) and the ASH Research Collaborative. Terry has helped draw attention to the vital role of research in medical care and has no plans to stop.

“Research funding is not an expense; it is an investment in human lives,” she said. “Continued support for hematology research means more breakthroughs, more treatment options, and more families able to spend precious additional years together.”