Area residents to raise funds for myeloma

March is multiple myeloma awareness month and a local fundraiser is being held to raise money for research.

It’s been almost a year since Janet Kerrigan of Myrtle Beach started the Myrtle Beach Multiple Myeloma Support Group for people suffering with the devastating cancer that, so far, has no cure.

It’s been five years and almost two months since she had to accept that it would end her 38 years of nursing and quite possibly end her life.

It took her about three months to process her diagnosis and come out of the shock of hearing it. But she came out with the will to fight for her own life, to help other patients fight for theirs and to help find a cure. “My hope is a cure. My goal is to live,” she said.

One pill that she takes every day costs $800. There are grants to help patients, and that information is part of what she brings to the group.

Research is making a difference. Many doctors are now treating multiple myeloma as a chronic disease. “So, any symptom that comes up, they will treat it,” she said.

Kerrigan lives in Myrtle Beach with her husband, Joe. When I talked with her Sunday, she was in Massachusetts visiting daughter Erin Gallagher. Her daughter, Kendra Nekritin lives in Florida. The daughters founded the Janet Kerrigan Foundation to help raise money for research and to help provide information to people dealing with multiple myeloma.

Fifty-two people are in the support group, and about 20 are usually able to attend the meetings, which Kerrigan works hard to make fun and informative. “This is not a sad support group. It’s a rally fun one. I bring a lot of positivity to the group,” she said.

She also brings speakers, which include doctors, nutritionists, and other professionals to try to enlighten multiple myeloma patients and their families.

According to the Center for Disease Control, there are 126,000 people suffering with multiple myeloma in the U.S. now, and 13,000 of them die every year, she said.

Kerrigan’s fight against the disease has included chemotherapy and a stem cell transplant.

When I talked with her on Sunday, she was in Massachusetts spending time with family, including Erin’s 17-month-old son Decklan. “The big spark in my life is my grandson,” she said of Decklan. “He’s the love of my life.”

The Myrtle Beach Multiple Myeloma Support Group and the Janet Kerrigan Foundation is having a fundraiser for multiple myeloma on March 31. All proceeds will go to the International Myeloma Foundation towards funding research for a cure.

The event will be in Myrtle Beach from 4-9 p.m. at Liberty Brewery & Steakhouse, 1321 Celebrity Circle, Broadway at the Beach. Tickets to the event are $10 per person. The band “Joe’s on Call” will be performing. There will be great food, raffles, and a $1 ribbon campaign. Balloons can be purchased in honor or in memory of someone for the balloon release at 6 p.m. Names of survivors will be written on burgundy balloons and the names of people who have lost their lives to multiple myeloma will be on white ones.

The support group meets the second Thursday of each month from 4-6 p.m. at the Tidelands Health Conference Center in Murrells Inlet.

For more information or to donate, visit Multiple Myeloma Fundraiser for a Cure event page on Facebook or http://give.myeloma.org/site/TR?fr_id=1250&pg=entry#.WIYDVIWcGUn, email Kerrigan at jleighk10@hotmail.com or call 655-3462.

This story was originally published January 26, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Area residents to raise funds for myeloma."