I am back home in Brooklyn after the amazing Grand Canyon trek for Moving Mountains for Multiple Myeloma. I can’t believe just yesterday I was watching the sun rise over the Grand Canyon with 20 new friends.

If I had to pick a theme of the whole experience it would be “more than I expected.”

The Canyon! The vastness and beauty that is different than the zillions of photos I’ve seen. It is more beautiful than I expected.

This group! We had all shared our connection to multiple myeloma and some details of our lives before the trip. But when we met in person and shared our stories you could see how committed everyone in this group is to working hard and together to find a cure for multiple myeloma. Our team was made up of a few patients; a spouse of a patient; children of patients, both living and deceased; scientists; pharmaceutical company employees; and, of course, the incredibly and committed Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) staff. Bringing a group like this together, with a common goal of both hiking the canyon and raising money for this cause, made me feel more powerful and more full of hope than I had expected.

This climb! It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated. I thought I was in decent shape before I left, but the hike felt like my hardest workout that went on and on for hours and hours. In the middle of the hardest part, I thought about where I was four summers ago with crippling back pain that I learned was fractured. And, then I remembered the moment I heard what had caused the fracture — multiple myeloma.

Once I was diagnosed, and began treatment for the disease, the back pain was resolved surprisingly quickly. It was a scary time. I did not know what the next few years would look like or how many years I would have. Four years later, on the trail, sweating and straining my muscles, I felt strong and amazed. In this group of MMRF supporters, I get to be the living proof that this effort is really working. I am more thankful than I expected.