Emphasis On Education, Treatment, Prevention During Blood Cancer Awareness Month

By Robin Clutters, CBS Denver:

(CBS4)– September is Blood Cancer Awareness Month, a time to educate the public on blood cancers, treatment, and prevention. The Colorado Blood Cancer Institute is celebrating 30 years of treating patients who are fighting these diseases. In that time, they’ve had 5,000 stem cell and bone marrow transplants. On CBSN Denver, we talked to Dr. Jeff Matous, the medical director for the institute’s blood and marrow transplant program. He specializes in the treatment of blood cancers including multiple myeloma, lymphoma, and leukemia.

“Individually, they’re not terribly common compared to some other cancers, but when taken as a whole, blood cancers make up 20 to 25 percent of all cancers,” says Dr. Matous. “Some blood cancers are really silent, and they’re discovered almost by accident during routine blood work. When patients do have symptoms, they include fatigue, unintentional weight loss, abnormal bleeding, fevers, or infection.”

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