Ed Wolfman initially attributed the pain in his ribs to a pulled muscle from golf. But during a massage he received on a 2006 anniversary getaway with his wife Susan, he felt a crack. “I thought he had broken one of my ribs, and the pain never subsided,” Ed says. The hospital radiologist referred him to an oncologist, who diagnosed him with multiple myeloma: a treatable but incurable bone marrow cancer.
Ed, then 53, sought out treatment options. A friend recommended that he connect with the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF). The MMRF had just been instrumental in the FDA approvals for Revlimid and Velcade—two therapies that Ed now credits with saving his and hundreds of other lives: “Early on, it became really apparent to me that they were leading the charge in identifying and advancing game-changing new therapies.”
Ed relapsed four years into treatment and received a stem cell transplant in 2011 that put him back into remission. Then, in 2018, he was diagnosed with ALL/CLL leukemia. After a rough period of chemo, remission, relapse, and a donor transplant in May 2019, Ed is back in remission. His latest bloodwork suggests that he’s MRD-negative and completely cancer-free. “I feel very fortunate,” he said, “If there’s any such thing as a lucky cancer patient, I’m it.”
Today Ed is as active as ever. He plays tennis and rides his road bike, and he finds great joy in the company of his energetic grandchildren—whom he affectionately describes as “a kick in the pants.”
Throughout Ed’s cancer journey, the Wolfman family has found a steadfast partner in the MMRF. They decided to designate the MMRF as a beneficiary of their estate plan to help rapidly advance new treatments and, eventually, a cure for multiple myeloma. “Multiple myeloma is a wily disease, and you need a lot of arrows in your quiver,” Ed says. “The MMRF is doing great work bringing new therapies to patients. We want to make sure that it continues.”
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