(upbeat music) - We're now joined by an extraordinary young woman, Carmen Phaneuf.

And Carmen has been living with multiple myeloma and is a nurse practitioner at Parker Family Health Center.

And is just, I mean, you've had a 20 year journey with multiple myeloma, right?

- Yes, yep.

I was diagnosed in 2002 when I was 34 years old.

- And I never like asking the question, describe your journey, because if you, oh yeah, we've got a really short period of time.

Describe your journey.

But this journey has, you've had extraordinary treatment, right?

- Right.

- Groundbreaking treatment.

- Yes.

- But you've also kept this amazingly positive attitude and done just a few things during this time.

Including, did you actually ski in Switzerland?

- Yeah, I skied in Switzerland and in France and Iceland.

I skied in Iceland last April.

Yeah.

- What's the helicopter thing?

- That was helicopter skiing in Iceland.

Yeah, it was amazing.

You see the ocean from where you're dropped off from.

I skied right down to the ocean actually.

It was pretty amazing.

- And what about these, what are five sprint triathlons?

What's that?

- They're short triathlons, usually a 500 yard swim, a 12 mile bike, and a 5K.

So I've done a lot of those for fundraising for an organization that I'm passionate about.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- What is multiple myeloma?

- Multiple myeloma is a cancer of the plasma cells, and plasma cells are white blood cells and they're actually very large cells.

They take the place up in the bone marrow which increases the risk for fractures.

And that's how a lot of patients are diagnosed, with a fracture.

They also damage the immune system and they can clog up the kidneys and cause damage.

- And some of the treatments that you've been through, could you talk about them please?

- Sure, so my first treatment was an autologous stem cell transplant.

So that's when they remove stem cells from my body, give me high dose chemotherapy to bring down the immune system, and give back the stem cells.

I had tandem stem cell transplants in 2012, and then that failed after two and a half years.

And I had an allogeneic transplant, which is a much more invasive type of transplant.

And that's from someone else.

I needed to be a perfect match.

And we found someone, a gentleman in England, and he donated his stem cells to me, and I had that in 2016.

And then most recently, I had a T-cell transplant, or CAR T, in November of 2022.

- Where'd you do that?

- At John Theurer Cancer Center Hackensack.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- Lemme ask you this.

As I was reading about your background, one of the things that striked me, and I did say this in the beginning, is your extraordinarily positive attitude.

Where does that come from, Carmen?

- I think just a sheer will to live.

And I was young when I had this, in the prime of my life, wanted to have a baby, and that led to discovering through blood work that this was growing inside of me.

And just wanting to live life to the fullest every day, trying to make that happen and be here for my family and friends that have supported me.

- Describe your family.

- My family, my husband Michael is just an absolute rock.

I mean, I developed this early in our marriage.

We didn't know if we could have a child.

He has stuck by me through sickness and in health has been there every step of the way.

My daughter is 19 years old, which when I was diagnosed, I'd never thought I would see the day that I would see her graduate high school.

Just finished a freshman year at Boston College.

She was born, she's grown up with a mom who's had incurable cancer all her life.

We were upfront and honest with her at a young age and she's been amazing, an amazing support as well.

- You're a nurse practitioner?

- Yes.

- Why, why?

- Ever since I was a young girl, I started working in a nursing home when I was 15 years old as an aide and a volunteer and I just loved taking care of people.

I became a nurse and worked for six years up in Boston and absolutely loved that, and was mentored by a woman who was a professor.

And really she encouraged me to go on and receive my master's for nurse practitioner.

And I just find it so incredibly rewarding and just love it.

- Carmen, you're a big supporter of support networks.

- Yes.

- What does that mean?

- Well, the one that I am supportive of is the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.

They were founded by a woman, similar story to mine, who was diagnosed at a very young age.

She happened to be a pharmaceutical executive, Kathy Giusti.

And she just turned her unbelievably sad story into something that, the MMRF has helped found and pioneered new treatments for multiple myeloma.

I mean, without them, I don't think we would be where we're at right now with all the current treatments and the research opportunities that they've brought to market.

So yeah, I'm very passionate about this organization and all our fundraising was basically done for them.

- Yeah, well, you not only do fundraising, but I know you talk to other patients who are dealing with cancer.

And how important, before I let you go, how important is that, Carmen, is talking to others?

- That's incredibly important.

I mean, that's been very, very rewarding sharing my story.

Since I am a 20 year survivor of this incurable cancer, I think that I give them hope.

I talk to them about my experiences and all my different transplants, and yeah, I think that it gives them hope to know that I am still surviving and living with this cancer and living a full life right now.

- Carmen, I know you just helped a lot of folks right now, once again, helping people, making a difference.

And we wish you and your family all the best, and particularly you, that you continue to have the strength to do extraordinary things.

Thank you so much, Carmen.

You honor us by joining us.

- Thank you.

Thank you for having me.

- Stay with us, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato has been a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

Funding has been provided by NJM Insurance Group.

Johnson & Johnson.

Hackensack Meridian Health.

The New Jersey Education Association.

New Jersey Sharing Network.

Rutgers University Newark.

PSC.

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey.

And by Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Promotional support provided by CIANJ, and Commerce Magazine.

And by New Jersey Monthly.

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