Stand Up to Cancer (SU2C) because of its star-studded fundraising event, which is aired live across all television networks each September. It features dozens of celebrities and reaches millions of viewers. But the real excitement is behind the scenes.

In April 2018, SU2C awarded $10 million to a Multiple Myeloma Dream Team at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. The purpose of the Dream Team’s research: early detection of precursor conditions before they turn into full-blown disease, with the eventual goal of developing therapies to treat them.

In October 2018, the Dream Team began to enroll volunteers in the study, dubbed PROMISE. The study is open to the two following groups of individuals between ages 45 and 75 who have been identified as being at high risk for multiple myeloma and its precursor conditions:

  • African Americans, who are three times more likely than Caucasians to develop the precursor condition known as smoldering myeloma
  • People with a first-degree relative (a parent, sibling or child) with a plasma cell disorder, such as multiple myeloma. 

For information about participating in the study, visit www.promisestudy.org.