Name: Paul Bassett
Age: 47
Hometown: Youngstown, Ohio
Why I’m Climbing for the MM4MM Team: As a way to raise awareness and to say “Thank You” to everyone who supports the MMRF, the research that we do, and ultimately for the patients who have to wake up every day facing this incurable disease. It's a great opportunity to generate awareness about Multiple Myeloma and to highlight the tremendous effort being put forward by both the MMRF and by pharmaceutical companies like Takeda. Heading to Machu Pucchu is one of those bucket list items and it's also a way to honor my mom, who lost her battle to pancreatic cancer. The dates of this trip happen to coincide with the one year anniversary of when I was sitting by her side during her last days.
My Story: (What is your connection to multiple myeloma? What would you like us to know about you?)
I’m a chemist and a nurse by training. In working with the MMRF, it has been an honor to be able to open new clinical trials and to be at the forefront of driving towards a cure for Multiple Myeloma. As a chemist and a nurse and I have spent my career developing new medicines to help fight various diseases. As many of you know, my work at the MMRF is directly involved with taking research dollars and putting them to work to accelerate cures for this difficult disease. I am so honored to walk alongside patients, health care providers and myeloma loved ones to "move the mountain" and help our mission. Some of you may know that I lost my mother to pancreatic cancer last year. Though I had actually worked on one of the drugs that she was given in her treatment, I wish there was more that I could have done to help her.