Glenn wasn’t using it as an excuse to explain his golf score. But when he noticed how badly his arm hurt when his golf club struck the ball, he wondered had he pulled a muscle? Fractured his arm, perhaps?

What Glenn didn’t anticipate were the words from his doctor following an X-ray. The bones in his arm were almost gone. It was the first sign in a series of steps that pointed to a serious diagnosis: multiple myeloma.

Multiple myeloma is a cancer of a certain type of white blood cell called the plasma cell. About 3.5 per 100,000 people are diagnosed with multiple myeloma, representing approximately 1 percent of all cancers and 10 percent of all hematological cancers. Multiple myeloma is the most common primary cancer of the bones in adults.

Following his diagnosis in 1996, Glenn was given two options: go without treatment and live about another six months; or undergo a blood and marrow transplant (BMT) for a shot at much more. With two daughters still in school, Glenn chose the latter. And in 1997, he successfully received an autologous BMT at University of Minnesota Medical Center, Fairview.

Though he doesn’t remember much of the day-to-day events in the hospital, one thing that is top of mind for Glenn is the care he received from the nurses and physicians while a patient.

“The care I received was exceptional. The nurses were wonderful, especially one in particular, Jim, who brought in pictures of his pickup truck and spent time with me, talking about his family,” Glenn says.

To document his experience, Glenn’s wife, Connie, kept a daily journal during his treatment, which he rereads on each anniversary of his transplant—his way of reminding himself of where he started and how far he’s come.

In the years since his transplant, Glenn has reflected on what he now knows was the right decision.

“Every day, I get to do things—even the things that aren’t fun. But I get to do them,” he says. One of the milestones of which he is especially proud is being able to attend his daughters’ graduations.

“I’ll never take anything in life for granted,” he says.