Honored Hero:

Michael Powers was first diagnosed with myeloma in 1999. After Michael noticed that he felt very weak, he visited a doctor, who found abnormaliies in Michael's protein and blood and diagnosed myeloma. A year later Michael was diagnosed with amyloidosis, a rare blood disorder contracted by just 10% of myeloma patients.

He received a stem cell transplant and for the next several years continued multiple drug treatments to both strengthen his bones and to fight the myeloma. As a consequence of all the different medications, Michael developed neuropathy in his right leg and both of his feet. The nerve damage caused by neuropathy is extremely painful, leads to fatigue and causes balance issues. Through it all Michael has endured more than a dozen different hospital visits but remains upbeat.

"The illnesses make life harder but in time they became a part of you, like another leg or arm," he says. "I have taken my illness as a gift because life, even through all of this, should be looked at specially because each day is a gift."

Nowhere is that sense of life as a gift more evident than in Michael's smile, which lights up any room he enters. "I am always dealing with fatigue but I still try to do fun things and keep a smile on my face," Michael says."

A couple years ago Michael learned about The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and soon became involved as a First Connection mentor, in which survivors meet with new patients and their families to offer peer support and insight.

The Leukemia Cup participants are thrilled to sail in Michael's honor.