A cancer diagnosis changes everything in an instant. For writer and advocate Maui Bigelow, that instant came on December 11, 2017, when a doctor looked her in the eyes and told her she had cancer. The diagnosis was Multiple Myeloma — a blood cancer that affects plasma cells in the bone marrow, and one that is technically incurable. Nearly nine years later, Bigelow is not just surviving. She is speaking up, showing out, and making sure Black women everywhere have the information she wishes she had sooner.
What Is Multiple Myeloma and Why Black Women Face a Higher Risk
Multiple Myeloma is a blood cancer that attacks plasma cells in the bone marrow. According to Blood Cancer United, it is considered rare — but that label does not hold up when you look at the data for Black women specifically. Black women are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma compared to white women, and yet they remain underrepresented in awareness campaigns, underdiagnosed in clinical settings, and too often dismissed when they speak up about their symptoms.
That disparity is not a coincidence — it is the result of systemic gaps in how Black women’s health concerns are heard and treated. Bigelow herself was dismissed repeatedly before receiving her diagnosis, and she began to internalize the doubt. Why was she in so much pain? Why was she exhausted all the time? Why were her teeth deteriorating when she had once had perfect oral health? Before Multiple Myeloma had a name in her life, it had already been quietly dismantling her body and her confidence.
Maui Bigelow’s Multiple Myeloma Diagnosis: Years of Symptoms Before an Answer
Bigelow had been living with persistent pain, unshakable fatigue, and a deep sense that something was wrong for years before her diagnosis. Like many Black women, she pushed through — attributing her symptoms to uterine fibroids and the physical toll they were taking on her body. It was only on December 11th that she finally got an answer, and the answer shook her to her core.
“That moment broke my heart. Hell, it broke my spirit momentarily. It shifted my entire world. And if I am being honest, I have never been that terrified.”
Her first thought after the diagnosis was death. She worried about her children, her parents, and everything she still needed to do. But once the shock began to lift, Bigelow made a decision that would reframe her entire journey. She decided she did not just want to survive cancer — she wanted to kick cancer’s ass. She wanted to show other women that it was possible to live well, even while living with cancer.
5 Things Every Black Woman Needs to Know About Multiple Myeloma
Bigelow has spent nearly nine years gathering knowledge that, as she puts it, will not be found on Google — because the data simply does not exist for Black women in the way it should. Drawing from her lived experience, she has outlined five critical things every Black woman needs to understand about this disease.
The first is awareness of elevated risk. Black women are more likely to develop Multiple Myeloma and less likely to be diagnosed early. Symptoms are frequently written off as stress or aging, which means the disease can progress quietly before anyone takes it seriously. Bigelow’s message is clear: ask questions, demand answers, and trust your body — because being loud about your health can save your life.
The second is recognizing that not every symptom is “just stress.” Multiple Myeloma does not announce itself loudly. It whispers through persistent exhaustion that rest does not resolve, unexplained bone pain, and a body that seems to get sick more often than it should. Bigelow urges Black women to stop reducing these signs to stress, aging, or life being life.
“Your body will whisper before it starts screaming, and trust me, you don’t want it to scream.”
Early Detection, Lifestyle Changes, and Defining Your Own Healing Journey
The third point Bigelow emphasizes is the life-changing power of early detection. The earliest phase of the disease is called Smoldering Multiple Myeloma, where the cancer is present but not yet active. Bigelow was fortunate to be diagnosed during this phase, though her numbers were already edging toward stages 1 and 2. Early diagnosis, she explains, is not just a medical advantage — it is time. Time to understand your body, ask informed questions, and move with strategy rather than panic.
Her fourth point addresses lifestyle as a core part of the treatment strategy. Medical care is essential, but so is how a person lives and cares for themselves day to day. For Bigelow, that meant getting brutally honest about habits that were working against her body. At the time of her diagnosis, she weighed 376 pounds, had an unhealthy relationship with food, and rarely exercised. She made sweeping changes — cutting out sugar, eating to heal, incorporating movement, and prioritizing her peace as if it were written into her treatment plan.
“Sis, lifestyle is strategy. Everything else is secondary.”
The fifth and perhaps most empowering point is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to healing. Bigelow chose a combination of traditional and holistic treatment, including chemotherapy and immunotherapy, alongside intentional lifestyle shifts. But she is clear that her path is her own. Healing, she insists, is not just physical — it is mental, emotional, and spiritual. A cancer diagnosis challenges all four, and every woman deserves the space to define what her healing looks like on her own terms.
Living With Blood Cancer as a Black Woman: Advocacy, Alignment, and Moving Forward
Nearly nine years after her diagnosis, Bigelow continues to use her story as a tool for change. She speaks not just from survival but from transformation — the kind that only comes when a crisis forces you to look at your life differently. She credits a quote by Susan L. Taylor with grounding her throughout the journey:
“In every crisis there is a message. Crises are nature’s way of forcing change, breaking down old structures, shaking loose negative habits so that something new and better can take their place.”
That philosophy has shaped everything. Bigelow no longer sees Multiple Myeloma as the defining chapter of her story. It is a part of her story — but it is not the headline. She is intentional about that distinction, and she wants every Black woman navigating a cancer diagnosis to carry that same understanding.
Ultimately, her message to Black women living with Multiple Myeloma or any other cancer diagnosis is one of fierce, clear-eyed empowerment:
“You have cancer. Cancer does not have you.”
That is not a platitude. Coming from a woman who was told she had an incurable disease and chose to build a life of intention, purpose, and advocacy in response, it is a battle cry — and a reminder that the way a person faces their hardest moment can become the most powerful thing about them.