Verldean Hueston, at left, watches intently as oncology nurse Sheri Spears prepares her husband, Rolland, for a chemotherapy treatment at Lawrence Memorial Hospital. Rolland Hueston, now 80, was diagnosed two years ago with multiple myeloma.

Rolland Hueston.

In July 2008, Rolland Hueston, then 79 years old, was mowing the lawn when a painful sneeze became the beginning of a series of life-changing events.

He remembers the incident as if it were yesterday.

“I had just finished mowing grass on the north side of the house, and had to stop to sneeze,” Hueston said. “Later that night, my rib started hurting, and I told the wife that I thought I had sneezed and cracked a rib.”

A series of doctor appointments and X-rays followed. A radiologist told Hueston something troubling had shown up on the X-rays.

He was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a bone marrow cancer. Multiple myeloma attacks white blood cells (plasma cells) in bone marrow and duplicates to create more malignant plasma cells, which leads to holes in bone marrow and destruction of bones.

To treat his multiple myeloma, Hueston takes prednisone, a type of steroid, and the drugs Alkeran and Zometa. The prednisone and Alkeran are part of his chemotherapy treatment that he feels fortunate to be able to take orally, and at home.

For most of the time, Hueston is an extremely jovial 80-year-old, with an optimistic outlook on life. But every 28 days, for four days out of the month when he is receiving the chemotherapy treatment, he says the chemo drugs “really zap me.” He goes to Lawrence Memorial’s oncology department once a month to measure his blood platelets, which determines whether he receives the Zometa.

When Hueston first discovered he had multiple myeloma, his wife of 50 years, Verldean, says that it was a rough couple of weeks.

“We would sometimes just spend the whole day in bed, part of which could have been a slight depression, but moreover just the general fatigue of what his body was enduring,” she said.

However many hardships Rolland has faced, including cardiac arrest in June 2009, he remains positive about life and the future.

“My heart doctor told me I’m one lucky person and that I shouldn’t even be here,” he said.

He added that people who have heart attacks like his very seldom survive.

Rolland says that he doesn’t seem to have any obvious damage from his cardiac arrest. With a smile, he says that he and Verldean “are doing good” and that he “can’t complain.”

And, he adds, he might as well keep a positive outlook on life.