So here we are, arrival day in Arizona for the Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma Grand Canyon Team! I can't wait to meet everyone who I have read about on the MM4MM site and who I have spoken with on our conference calls leading up to this trek.

I am very excited and yet humbled to be part of this hike with such a diverse team. We come from all over the country. We are patients, nurses, scientists and caregivers. We are all different, yet we are united in the fact that we have empowered ourselves by being a part of this effort and contributing to the mission of finding a cure for multiple myeloma.

I am hoping that my husband and I have trained enough to endure the challenges that the Grand Canyon is going to present us with on Saturday. We are both expecting to have one of the most beautifully difficult and physically challenging days of our lives.

Every time I worry that I might not be able to go the distance, I remind myself of the patients that I am here representing and as a myeloma nurse, how often I have had pep talks with them to keep them hiking through their treatments. In a nutshell, I owe them one!