Tom Brokaw's Journey With Multiple Myeloma
- Journalist Tom Brokaw, 84, says that, early in his career, he rubbed elbows with Hollywood’s biggest stars during the ’60s, from Henry Fonda to Sidney Poitier. His career took him far and beyond Southern California. His handling of his cancer diagnosis played a role in the later stages of his career before retiring.
- In 2013, Brokaw was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, and he recalled the experience being a tough one to endure. In fact, the disease caused him to take a step back from NBC, where he made his career, before his full retirement in 2021.
- Multiple myeloma is a rare type of blood cancer that hinders the body’s ability to fight infections. It can cause weakness, dizziness, bone pain, and confusion, among other symptoms.
- Advancements in multiple myeloma treatments have improved the lives of patients battling the disease.
- Chemotherapy drug Revlimid (generic name lenalidomide) has been shown to improve survival for patients living with multiple myeloma.
- While the disease may not be curable, maintenance therapy like Revlimid can help patients maintain a good quality of life and control the disease for extended periods.
Retired journalist Tom Brokaw, 84, had a long and decorated career that took him all across the country. A stint in southern California during the 1960s allowed him to rub elbows with the Hollywood elites at the time.
Brokaw’s impact extends beyond broadcast journalism; he’s also become the embodiment of advances in cancer treatment. He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a rare type of blood cancer, in 2013. This type of cancer can cause symptoms such as weakness, dizziness, bone pain, and confusion, among other symptoms. However, Brokaw is still thriving thanks to a groundbreaking yet effective treatment – a chemotherapy drug called Revlimid (generic name lenalidomide).
Read MoreHenry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Rosalind Russell, Jack Lemmon, and Sidney Poitier are some of the stars he would come into contact with.
“When we arrived in Los Angeles, my wife Meredith and I were invited to dinners and cocktail parties well beyond our social standing,” Brokaw said.
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Brokaw’s career eventually moved beyond Southern California. He held nearly every position his industry could offer, including as a White House correspondent in the 1970s and anchoring NBC’s “Nightly News” beginning in 1983. He held the position for two decades, covering all the major stories from the mid-1980s until 2004.
According to NBC, Brokaw fully retired from the network in January 2021 after 55 years.
During his final years as an active journalist, Brokaw’s cancer journey began in 2013.
Helping Patients Better Understand Multiple Myeloma
Brokaw’s Cancer Journey
After Tom Brokaw received his multiple myeloma diagnosis in 2013, he recalled he took it in stride.
“I didn’t go into a meltdown of some kind. I was very cool about it. I was kind of in two parts: I was operating as a journalist human being, and the other part was kind of on the outside looking in saying, ‘This is a big deal, you’ve got to stay cool.'” Brokaw previously explained in a column.
Brokaw noted that he didn’t want this diagnosis and its treatment to hold him back from the life he wanted to keep living.
“Bring it on,” he said.
WATCH: Veteran journalist Tom Brokaw shares thoughts on the medical community and ways to improve patient experience.
When it came to his public life on screen, Brokaw admitted, “I didn’t want them to know,” referring to his colleagues and news viewers.
He added, “I didn’t want to become the object of some kind of pity, most of all. I didn’t want to show up on the internet, ‘Tom Brokaw has cancer,'” he said.
The veteran journalist credited his family for supporting him throughout his cancer journey. He also said he went through “months of specialized treatment” to help him manage the incurable disease.
The Breakthrough Treatment for the Incurable Cancer
SurvivorNet sat down with Brokaw a while back in his Florida home, and he shared some details about his treatment, which included chemotherapy.
Brokaw received Revlimid (generic name lenalidomide), a breakthrough oral medication that has helped treat patients living with multiple myeloma. In combination with other therapies, standard doses of lenalidomide kill off myeloma cells.
Low doses of Revlimid are then used as maintenance therapy to help keep the immune system on alert and target the myeloma in case it reemerges within the body.
“The Revlimid thing for me has been … no side effects whatsoever,” Brokaw told SurvivorNet.
WATCH: Journalist Tom Brokaw shares his multiple myeloma treatment.
“I think that I’m doing as well as I am in part because of Revlimid. I’ve been very fortunate, of course, in not having a reaction to a lot of the very powerful drugs that I am taking … my bomb is Revlimid on a daily basis,” Brokaw continued.
The new treatment has shown great promise, giving multiple myeloma patients and their families hope.
“If you look at the most recent meta-analysis of clinical benefit from lenalidomide, you’re seeing survival gains of two and 1/2 to three years as a median by virtue of its use. And that’s not progression-free survival; that’s overall survival,” Dr. Paul Richardson, director of clinical research at the Jerome Lipper Multiple Myeloma Center, previously told SurvivorNet.
“What we’re realizing is that lenalidomide (Revlimid) is really conferring tremendous clinical benefit by virtue of its continuous use, and it’s impacting on survival and progression-free survival in a remarkably substantial fashion,” Dr. Richardson added.
Brokaw’s experience with Revlimid as maintenance therapy is a testament to the importance of ongoing treatment and management of multiple myeloma. While the disease may not be curable, maintenance therapy can help patients maintain a good quality of life and control the disease for extended periods.
Questions for Your Doctor
If you are facing a multiple myeloma diagnosis, you may be interested in the treatment Tom Brokaw has had success with. Here are some questions to help you begin the conversation with your doctor:
- What stage is my multiple myeloma?
- What are my treatment options?
- Am I a good candidate for Revlimid?
- What are the possible side effects of your recommended treatment?
- Who will be part of my healthcare team, and what does each member do?
- Can you refer me to a social worker or psychologist who can help me cope with my diagnosis?
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