Myeloma Action Month 2026 Shines Light On One Of Our Most Common Blood Cancers

Over forty locations across New Zealand will be lighting up red during Myeloma Action Month to bring attention to one of New Zealand’s most common blood cancers.

Myeloma New Zealand, a registered charity dedicated to supporting myeloma patients and their loved ones, is part of the International Myeloma Foundation’s Global Myeloma Action Network® (GMAN®), a global coalition of myeloma patient organisations in over 40 countries. Each March, Myeloma New Zealand joins the International Myeloma Foundation and other GMAN members to celebrate Myeloma Action Month. A critical element of the on-going global awareness campaign, in Myeloma Action Month the global myeloma community comes together to share personal stories to inspire action and raise awareness of this increasingly common but little-known blood cancer.

This year, Myeloma New Zealand and the IMF invite the people forming the myeloma community to demonstrate the spirit of #MoreThanMyeloma — how they are living with, and not for, myeloma.

To signify the global signal of unity, resilience, and awareness, major landmarks across the globe and New Zealand will light up in red to honour those impacted by myeloma.

The over 40 New Zealand locations lighting up throughout the month can be found at https://multiplemyeloma.org.nz/myeloma-action-month-2026/

International landmarks can be found at https://myelomaactionmonth.org/

Barbara Horne, Chair of Myeloma New Zealand, says,

“Myeloma Action Month is an opportunity to bring attention to what is a much more common cancer than most people realise. Around 3000 New Zealanders are living with multiple myeloma and another 450 are diagnosed each year.

Although a myeloma diagnosis will almost certainly have an impact on the recipient and their family, friends, and colleagues, the social media posts of Myeloma NZ and patients are showing that myeloma patients are More Than Myeloma.

Myeloma Action Month is all about honouring who they are and the lives they lead. We’re encouraging the myeloma community – patients and the people they care about - to share how they live with myeloma and how they are more than this cancer with the hashtags #MoreThanMyeloma and #MyelomaActionMonth.

And thank you to all the organisations who are lighting red this month and helping us draw attention to myeloma. We’d love all New Zealanders to take photos of the landmarks lit red this March and share them on social media with the hashtags #MoreThanMyeloma and #MyelomaActionMonth. ”.

Roland Mitchell from Papamoa has been living with myeloma since mid-2019.In a post on Myeloma New Zealand’s social media channels he showed he is much more than myeloma. Roland says that while he lives with myeloma, he is also a Dad, a husband and a long-distance runner. Myeloma New Zealand shared a photo of Roland and his family after he ran an ultra-marathon of 52 kilometres earlier this month. “I want to keep pushing my limits while living with myeloma and show that there is much more to us than myeloma”.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the bone marrow plasma cells — white blood cells that make antibodies. Myeloma is called “multiple” because there are frequently multiple patches or areas in bone where it grows. It often involves damage to bone and kidneys. While multiple myeloma is still incurable, great progress has been made in terms of survival over the last two decades. The disease is more common in Māori and Pasifika. The most common presenting symptoms include fatigue and bone pain but myeloma can be difficult to diagnose as the symptoms can be so varied and vague.

Multiple myeloma has two precursor stages – smouldering myeloma (SM) and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS). MGUS is the first stage of myeloma before symptoms are present. It's a benign precursor to multiple myeloma, and patients with MGUS may or may never develop active myeloma. In some patients, MGUS may progress to SMM. SMM will eventually progress to active myeloma.

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