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Early Diagnosis Appeal

Despite living in a time of awe-inspiring advancements in myeloma diagnosis and treatment, 1 in 4 patients still have to wait over 10 months for the correct diagnosis.

During this delay, their myeloma may advance, becoming more challenging to treat and more likely to cause life-altering complications. Early diagnosis is key to ensuring myeloma patients have the best possible treatment options and quality of life.

Myeloma UK’s Early Diagnosis Programme aims to reduce delays in diagnosis and enable patients to live long and healthy lives.

We believe it’s time to close the gap in diagnosis and we need your help.

Donate Now OR Set Up A Monthly Direct Debit

Please help us by supporting our Early Diagnosis Appeal.

Our multi-faceted approach to improving early diagnosis will change the lives of thousands of families.

Shelagh McKinlay Profile

“We’re working across the entire diagnostic pathway to put myeloma at the forefront of policy decisions, educate healthcare teams on spotting the signs of myeloma, and fund research to drastically improve the diagnosis process.

With your help, Myeloma UK will invest £1.2m over the next three years into improving early diagnosis of myeloma. This includes an investment of £500,000 to fund two innovative new research projects; one will help researchers understand how to identify people who are likely to develop myeloma, and the other aims to pave the way for a myeloma screening programme.”

Shelagh McKinlay, Acting Director of Research and Patient Advocacy

Deb’s Story

One patient who is wholeheartedly behind our Early Diagnosis Programme is Myeloma UK supporter Deb Gascoyne.

Back in 2009, she was diagnosed with smouldering myeloma (an early form of myeloma). She started treatment straightaway when her smouldering myeloma progressed to active myeloma:

“I’m still doing well after 13 years,” says Deb. “But when I started treatment, I never thought I’d have this much time. I never thought I’d see my two beautiful children grow up. I truly think this is all down to my early diagnosis.”

Read more

How you can help

We can only carry out our vital Early Diagnosis work to ensure more patients like Deb enjoy the treasured milestones of life, thanks to the kind and generous support of people like you.

Below are some ways your donation today will help:

  • £25 could help get Myeloma and MGUS GP guides to GPs so they can spot myeloma sooner and better support myeloma and MGUS patients
  • £60 could provide an hour of free support for someone who has just been diagnosed with myeloma through our Myeloma Infoline
  • £125 could help us gather evidence to show the impact a delayed diagnosis has on patients and their families to ensure decision-makers know where improvements are needed
  • £250 could help us develop a Lab Best Practice Tool to ensure key diagnostic test results are clearly and consistently reported preventing delays to diagnosis
  • £500 could help our researchers build a platform that can analyse routinely collected patient data to ensure patients experience the same level of care at diagnosis and beyond
  • £1,000 could support the development of a clinical trial to give patients early access to new drugs and therapies
  • £1,500 could help our researchers understand why myeloma develops, to find ways to diagnose it earlier

Whatever you are able to give will help ensure patients and families can face a hopeful future.

Please donate now

If you’re having any issues donating, have any questions about our appeal or would rather speak to a person you can call our Appeal line on 0131 230 0430.

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