Always Has A Smile!

In 2008, Melvyn Attfield’s world was shaken when a routine medical check-up revealed that he had an unusual blood disorder, one that often leads to multiple myeloma. Confronted with the diagnosis, Melvyn was spurred to action. “This has energized me to run and to get involved in my kids’ lives,” he says. “I’ve made the conscious choice to be happy every day and to do everything I can to help find a cure.”

Melvyn is currently in the smoldering phase of the disease, but that hasn’t kept him from running marathons; he’s completed 10, and the NYC marathon will be his 11^th! The way he tackles race after race despite the difficulties brought on by cancer can only be described as inspiring, as his son-in-law Peter Bissel can attest. “If he can face this disease head on, while dealing with lots of hospital visits, various testing, and experimental treatments that fatigue him, and STILL run marathon after marathon, then surely I can step up and [run a marathon],” says Peter, who will run with Melvyn in the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC this October. Melvyn runs for himself and for other myeloma patients, but most importantly, he runs for his wife, his children and his soon-to-be grandchildren. It is his love for his family that drives him to do all he can to find a cure.