Mary Sage, a longtime islander who calls herself a “rebel with a cause,” wants Vashon to know one thing about the month of March: it’s Multiple Myeloma Awareness Month.

​​Spearheaded nationally by the International Myeloma Foundation (IMF), and endorsed in the state of Washington with a proclamation from Gov. Jay Inslee, the campaign aims to generate widespread public awareness about myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells in the bone marrow.

For Sage, the month of March is also a time to double down on inspiring a culture of hope and resilience in response to the disease — something she has personally modeled for many on Vashon and beyond for the past seven years. Her husband, local photographer Michael Sage, is also involved in this laudable effort.

Cascading health issues — and a delayed diagnosis

In 2015, when Mary was 55 years old, she was diagnosed with Stage 3 myeloma, after almost a year of experiencing health problems that included debilitating back pain, severe fatigue and recurrent respiratory infections.

Although Mary had been proactive in seeking medical care for these conditions, her cancer remained undetected and untreated, teaching her an important lesson she is now eager to impart to others.

“We all need to be advocates for our own personal health and pay attention to our bodies,” she said. “The nearly one year of odd illnesses and pain was explained as other diseases, but really were an indication that something else was brewing.”

Only when Mary’s body had literally reached a breaking point was her cancer diagnosed — after an MRI revealed inoperable cancer involving the vertebrae of the lower part of the back region which had caused several fractures and compressions along the spinal column.

Having now undergone two spinal surgeries and a stem cell transplant, she will continue to receive cancer treatments for the remainder of her life — which has already long exceeded her doctors’ original prognosis of three years in terms of life expectancy.

At the time of Mary’s diagnosis, her twin sons, Ray and Ryan Devlin, were 22 years old, and her five step-children were also only beginning to embark on their adult lives.

She thought she would not live to see her children marry or her grandchildren being born. But in 2022, Mary is still here and has now taken part in all these milestones. Her cancer has also been downgraded to Stage 2.

Along the way, she has become an expert on her disease.

Learning more about myeloma

Myeloma is a relatively rare cancer, diagnosed in approximately 30,000 people in the United States each year.

Still, said Mary, it has affected prominent islanders and even such well-known people as broadcast legend Tom Brokaw, who has now successfully fought the disease for eight years.

Colin Powell, who recently died from COVID-related causes, was also a myeloma patient.

The cancer occurs more frequently in people older than the age of 65 and is twice as prevalent in Black Americans, who are also typically diagnosed with the disease at a younger age. It also occurs rarely in people in their 30s and even younger ages.

Although there is not yet a cure for the disease, its treatments include medications, chemotherapy, corticosteroids, radiation, stem cell transplant, and now, emerging immunotherapy treatments.

Mary said she believes her disease was caused by environmental toxins, which she was exposed to in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where she was born and lived until the early 1980s.

Her first husband, Mark Devlin, who worked in a steel mill and plastics factory in Pittsburgh, also contracted a rare cancer that some researchers have linked to environmental toxins — liposarcoma, which affects fat cells. He died of the disease in 2003.

“We were brushing the steel dust off our cars every day,” she said.

Using her voice and connections to reach many

Mary has now lived on Vashon for more than 30 years, where she is well known as a gregarious and deeply community-minded soul.

Her jobs on the island have included working as the administrator of St. John Vianney Church and as office manager for Vashon Natural Medicine. She also worked part-time for the school district and served for seven years as a volunteer firefighter.

“I got to know a lot of people in those jobs, and a lot of people got to know me,” she said.

Mary is also a highly organized person, who at the time of her cancer diagnosis was a program manager at the University of Washington Medical Center, providing administrative support for hospital executives and leaders.

She now puts all those career and people skills to use as a volunteer myeloma coach, working from home with caregivers and patients via HeathTree.org, a site devoted to helping those with blood cancers. Her husband, Michael, also serves as a volunteer coach.

The youngest myeloma patient Mary has coached was a seven-year-old girl from Glasgow, Scotland — an experience she describes as a deep honor.

She is also an active member of the Pacific Northwest chapter of the support group, MM Fighters, and she sits on the pioneers’ committee of All4Cure.com, a site devoted to sharing aggregate knowledge across groups of patients, caregivers, clinicians and researchers.

Dr. Tony Blau, who is the founder and CEO of All4Cure, as well as professor emeritus at the University of Washington, said he deeply appreciates Mary’s insights and perspective in her work with his organization.

“Mary is a remarkable example of courage, dedicated to helping others while dealing herself with the many side effects of an incurable blood cancer,” he said.

A dark time gives way to new challenges

Now seven years into the fight, the damage done by myeloma to Mary’s spine, hips, and nerves has left her disabled and six inches shorter than she was at the start of her cancer journey.

But still, she believes that staying active played an important role in her recovery.

“Mentally, it was better for me to keep moving and keep my life as normal as I could while I was letting the drugs do their jobs,” she said.

With a yearly goal to raise by walking for myeloma causes, she still trains at home on a treadmill. When she’s feeling strong, her neighbors can also still spot her using her red walker to take a lap around the block.

But most of all, she is determined to be there to support those who need her help and expertise, just as she leaned on her husband, Michael, and her tribe of female friends during the dark days of her own diagnosis and early treatment.

“I am grateful to them for stepping up at a moment’s notice,” she said. “They were traveling with me on this very scary journey.”

Note: For more information, visit the International Myeloma Foundation’s (IMF) website at myeloma.org, or write to the organization infoline@myeloma.org. To connect with the Pacific Northwest chapter of MM Fighters, visit mmfighters.com. Mary Sage can also be contacted directly at marysage@comcast.net.

Any one of the following early warning signs, all experienced by Mary Sage, could indicate myeloma:

∙ Persistent or worsening tiredness

∙ Recurrent unexplained infections (such as pneumonia, sinus infection, or urinary tract infection)

∙ Back pain or any bone pain that is persistent or recurrent

∙ Nervous system symptoms/numbness or muscle weakness

∙ Shortness of breath

A full list of symptoms for myeloma can be found on the American Cancer Society website, at ​​cancer.org/cancer/multiple-myeloma. Consult your doctor if you experience any of these symptoms.