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What Lisa Ray's Story Can Help Us Understand About Multiple Myeloma
The actor shared her multiple myeloma diagnosis in 2009 and has become an advocate. Here is what that diagnosis means, explained calmly and simply.
A plain-language summary based on public reporting and trusted sources, linked below.
Please note: this page is educational only — it is not medical advice, and it does not speculate about anyone’s health beyond reliable public reporting. For questions about your own health, talk with your healthcare team.
What she has said herself
Lisa Ray is a Canadian actor and model who built her career across Indian and international film. In 2009 she was diagnosed with multiple myeloma. She wrote about it at the time in a blog called The Yellow Diaries, and later in a memoir, Close to the Bone.
Speaking to CBC Radio in 2020, Ray said she had a stem cell transplant and credits it with saving her life. She went on to raise money for the first research chair in multiple myeloma at Princess Margaret Hospital in Toronto.
Everything below about her comes from what she chose to say in public. Nothing here describes her care now, and nothing here predicts what happens to anyone else.
The cell at the center of it
Myeloma starts in the plasma cell. Plasma cells are white blood cells that live in bone marrow and make antibodies, the proteins that tag germs for the immune system to destroy.
In myeloma, one plasma cell copies itself over and over. The copies crowd out normal marrow. They also pour out one useless antibody in huge amounts. Doctors call it the M protein, and it is the fingerprint they measure.
That single change explains almost every problem the disease causes. Crowded marrow means fewer red cells, so anemia. The abnormal cells switch on bone breakdown, so bone pain, thinning bone and fractures. Broken-down bone releases calcium into the blood. Bits of the M protein clog the kidney filters.
Doctors group these under one word: myeloma is described by the harm it does to calcium, kidneys, blood counts and bone. Our page on multiple myeloma goes through each in more detail.
Not everyone with an M protein has myeloma
This is the part that surprises people. An M protein on its own is common with age and often means nothing is wrong yet.
NCI's health-professional summary describes a ladder. At the bottom sits monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, or MGUS: an M protein, fewer than 10% plasma cells in the marrow, and no symptoms. Above that sits smoldering myeloma, where more disease is present but organs are still fine. Neither is treated straight away. Both are watched.
Active myeloma is the rung where treatment starts. The International Myeloma Working Group set markers for it, including calcium above the normal range, a creatinine over 2 mg/dL or creatinine clearance under 40 mL/min, hemoglobin under 10.0 g/dL, or one or more holes in bone seen on imaging. Marrow with 60% or more clonal plasma cells also counts, as does a set of light-chain results far out of balance.
How the diagnosis is made
There is no screening test for myeloma. It is usually found while chasing a symptom or an odd blood result.
The work-up NCI lists includes measuring the M protein in blood and urine, a bone marrow sample examined for plasma cells and chromosome changes, imaging of the skeleton by X-ray, MRI or PET-CT, and blood tests for calcium, kidney function, albumin and beta-2-microglobulin. A serum free light chain test measures the loose antibody fragments and their ratio. Our page on how myeloma is diagnosed and staged covers what those numbers do next.
What treatment involves
Modern first treatment is a combination, usually three or four drugs together for several months. NCI names regimens built from bortezomib, lenalidomide and dexamethasone, often with an antibody such as daratumumab or isatuximab added.
If that works and the person is well enough, the next step may be an autologous stem cell transplant. The person's own blood stem cells are collected and frozen. High-dose chemotherapy then wipes out the marrow, and the stored cells are returned to rebuild it. It is the treatment Ray described. Our page on stem cell transplant explains the timeline and the recovery.
After that comes maintenance, a lighter drug taken long-term to hold the disease down. Most people also get a bone drug, either a bisphosphonate or denosumab, to protect the skeleton.
NCI states plainly that there is still no confirmed curative approach. Myeloma is treated as a long illness with periods of control and periods of relapse.
The numbers, for a group
The American Cancer Society projects about 36,000 new myeloma cases in the United States in 2026 and about 10,850 deaths. SEER republishes that projection but does not make it. The survival number is SEER's own measurement: 63.7% at five years for people diagnosed between 2016 and 2022. The median age at diagnosis is 69.
Those figures describe a whole population over years that are already past. They cannot be read down to one person, and they lag behind newer drugs.
When to get checked
Myeloma symptoms are easy to blame on age or a strain. Ask a doctor to look if any of these keep going:
- Bone pain that does not shift, especially in the back, ribs or hips, or a bone that breaks after a small knock.
- Tiredness and breathlessness that suggest anemia.
- Infections that keep coming back or are slow to clear.
- Blood tests showing a high calcium level or worsening kidney function.
- Unexplained weight loss, or foamy urine.
A raised total protein or a low blood count on a routine test is often the first clue.
What this does not mean
One person's course tells you nothing about another's. Myeloma varies hugely by genetics, stage and general health.
A stem cell transplant is not right for everyone, and NCI notes that a large randomized trial did not show an overall survival benefit for transplant consolidation. It remains one option among several, decided case by case.
And an M protein found by chance is not a cancer diagnosis. Most people with MGUS never develop myeloma.
Sources
- CBC Radio, How a cancer diagnosis inspired actress Lisa Ray to rewrite her life (3 November 2020) — https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/monday-nov-2-2020-jamie-oliver-lisa-ray-and-more-1.5785981/how-a-cancer-diagnosis-inspired-actress-lisa-ray-to-rewrite-her-life-1.5787015
- NCI PDQ, Plasma Cell Neoplasms (Including Multiple Myeloma) Treatment (Health Professional Version) — https://www.cancer.gov/types/myeloma/hp/myeloma-treatment-pdq
- SEER Cancer Stat Facts, Myeloma — https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/mulmy.html
How this article was prepared
An AI-assisted editorial system helped prepare this page. No named medical reviewer has reviewed it unless one is listed.
The National Cancer Information Foundation publishes Cancer Explained. This page is for learning. It is not medical advice and does not suggest a test or treatment.
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Prevention, possible warning signs, screening, and diagnosis
This story relates to Multiple myeloma. The information below is general: it does not reveal anything else about a public person’s health, and not every point applies to every cancer. Personal advice depends on age, symptoms, family history, exposures, and medical history.
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